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Operation Homefront Neighborhoods: Permanent Housing for Wounded Warriors and their Families
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Operation Homefront Villages: Short-term housing complexes for transitioning wounded warriors
Facts about the Johnson Family



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CONTACT:  Meredith Leyva
meredith@operationhomefront.net

Operation Homefront to Call for Homebuilders, Lenders to Sell Excess Housing to 100,000+ Wounded Warriors

Event to celebrate the Johnson Family’s new home
SAN ANTONIO, TX – At the celebratory opening the new home of Army Specialist Austin Johnson, the soldier recovering from his fifth IED explosion when his children were killed in a car accident en route to the hospital, Operation Homefront will call on mortgage lenders and homebuilders to sell entire neighborhoods of excess housing to wounded warriors as they return home. Operation Homefront will cite USAA and KB Homes, who assisted the Johnson family, as examples.

“While we celebrate the Johnson’s new beginning here, we are also reminded of what would have happened if all of us here had not ‘done something’,” Amy Palmer, co-founder of Operation Homefront, will state in prepared remarks.  “The Johnson’s are part of a new generation of wounded warriors and their families who are slipping into destitution and homelessness.”

There are currently more homeless Vietnam veterans than there were service members killed in that war, and recent studies show that 1 in 4 homeless are veterans.  Operation Homefront is concerned that a combination of health problems and the 18-month bureaucratic outprocessing for wounded are driving current warriors into bankruptcy and ultimately homelessness.

“More than 30,000 troops have been wounded in six years of war, and as many as 100,000 may have PTSD,” Palmer will continue. “All of them will need housing in affordable suburban communities near VA medical facilities. Operation Homefront hopes that lender and homebuilders will join our plight to settle wounded warriors in permanent housing.”

USAA is financing the Johnson’s new home with a 30 year mortgage with a 5.875% interest rate. Thanks to generous donations, Operation Homefront provided the down payment and a half-point in order to reduce the Johnson’s interest rate. Palmer will explain that USAA realizes that wounded warriors may have bad credit as a result of their finances dissipating during the 18-month recovery and bureaucratic outprocess. However, once a warrior has obtained his VA benefits, he becomes a good risk with steady income for life. Wounded warriors also are likely to have occasional lapses in health over their lifetimes, especially in the early stages of ‘normalcy’, so USAA knows that flexibility is needed.

Operation Homefront first met Army Specialist Austin Johnson and his wife, Lisa, while he was recovering from a traumatic brain injury at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio as a result of an IED explosion – his fifth IED explosion after two tours in Iraq. The military charity was providing emergency financial assistance after deployments and injuries forced the Johnsons to file for bankruptcy – something very common among wounded warriors. After several visits back and forth from their home in El Paso, Lisa once again gathered their three children to make the drive to be by their father’s bedside.  Unfortunately, a massive wind gust flipped Lisa’s car, ultimately killing all three children. After Operation Homefront put out the call for donations to assist the Johnsons, individual donors and the PGA TOUR raised $79,000 to help with expenses with the funeral, relocation to San Antonio, a basic car, and a memorial to the children at their school in El Paso. Thursday’s event will mark the final donation: Assistance in purchasing a new home in San Antonio so that Specialist Johnson can continue his recovery and the couple can begin a new life.

EVENT:                Ribbon cutting on Johnson Family home
Location:              121 Cenizo Springs, Cibolo, TX (San Antonio suburb)

Time:                    9:30 am, January 3, 2008

PARTICIPANTS: Amy Palmer of Operation Homefront, the Johnson Family, and representatives from the PGA TOUR, USAA, KB Homes, AT&T, Valero and more.

More Information:
Operation Homefront Neighborhoods: Permanent Housing for Wounded Warriors and their Families
Operation Homefront Villages: Short-term housing complexes for transitioning wounded warriors
Facts about the Johnson Family