With all the negative news surrounding the services for our veterans, I'm proud of the advances officials in the Kansas City area have made for these former servicemen and women. Thanks to a collaborative effort on behalf of our veterans, the hard work and dedication to ensure housing for those who have honorably served our great country has become a reality.

What was once an overgrown dump site and an eyesore to our community has turned into one of the most honorable and much-needed projects in the Kansas City area. St. Michael's Veterans Center officially opened the first of its three planned buildings, a project that has been going on for four years now.

The new residential unit serves 58 veterans who were selected to live in the new building. The housing is accessible for those with disabilities and includes community gathering areas, outpatient medical care, fitness rooms, and areas where veterans can work on their computer and job training skills.

Other services available to residents include legal and financial assistance, post-traumatic stress recovery and even companion animals. In addition, the housing unit is in close proximity to public transportation, shopping, houses of worship, and areas of entertainment. The Veterans Center was built within close proximity of the Kansas City VA Medical Center.

Instead of focusing on where they will lay their heads at night or secure their belongings, now these veterans have a place to call home and can hone in on other areas of their life so they can truly feel like they are a part of our community. And once these individuals begin to get back on their feet, they will be able to pay some rent at St. Michael's and free up low-income housing vouchers for other needy individuals.

However, this is only the first phase. When this project is completed, 180 affordable rental units will be available to those veterans who need it most, providing what has become a very deserving slogan for the project: "Homes for the brave."

This year the General Assembly worked to pass several measures designed to increase awareness for those who selflessly served and continue to serve our nation, including measures designed to:

• Create and expand important medallion programs and promote educational programs in schools as part of Veterans Day celebrations (Senate Bill 600);
• Allow our state's most senior military officer to approve financial assistance or services for certain members of the military (House Bill 1724);
• Designate the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located in Point Lookout, Mo., as our state's official Vietnam War Memorial (Senate Concurrent Resolution 43);
• Encourage our state to address the needs of women veterans and formally honor the heroic service of women veterans (House Concurrent Resolution 11); and
• Allow voters to decide in August if Missouri should develop and sell a "Veterans Lottery Ticket." Proceeds would be used to cover the construction, maintenance or renovation or equipment needs for Missouri's veterans' homes and cemeteries (House Joint Resolution 48).

To read more about legislation relating to veterans considered during the 2014 legislative session, visit www.senate.mo.gov. And to read more about the new Kansas City center for homeless veterans, read the article featured in the Kansas City Star.