Tunnel to Towers Foundation Breaks Ground on Veteran Village in Island Park

 Ceremony took place on Friday, April 17, 2026

ISLAND PARK, NEW YORK [April 17, 2026] — The Tunnel to Towers Foundation hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Veterans Village in Island Park, bringing its mission to end veteran homelessness to Long Island. 

In late 2024, Nassau County donated the property at 3915 Austin Blvd to the Foundation. The former motel, closed since Superstorm Sandy in 2012, had become a blighted, disrepair‑ridden property associated with illegal activity. 

In December, Tunnel to Towers demolished the existing structure and will now begin building a new 42-unit apartment complex on the site. 

A Tunnel to Towers Veterans Village is more than just housing; there will be on-site support services, including job training, benefits assistance, education assistance, financial budget management, legal advocacy, access to medical care, mental health support, and PTSD counseling, as well as addiction treatment. 

Local leaders and community stakeholders will join the Tunnel to Towers Foundation at the groundbreaking ceremony as the organization expands its national effort to eradicate veteran homelessness on Long Island. 

Launched in 2022, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation Homeless Veteran Program has already provided housing assistance to over 17,500 veterans and 8,000 of their children. 

Tunnel to Towers Veteran Villages are operating in Houston, Texas; Riverside, California; West Los Angeles, California; and Mableton, Georgia. Nearly a dozen additional sites, such as the Veterans Village in Bradenton, FL, are currently under construction or in the planning phase. 

Tunnel to Towers continues its original mission to support America’s heroes by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and building specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. 

For more on how Tunnel to Towers is helping America’s heroes and their families, go to T2T.org. Please consider supporting our mission by donating just $11 per month.