Mather Veterans Village, located on the former Mather Air Force Base, has been in the works for at least ten years, and Phase 1 is now approaching fruition. Anyone driving by the Veterans Village, located only a block from the VA Hospital in Mather, can clearly see the L-shaped building that houses Phase 1’s 50 permanent housing units.

“If you haven’t had a chance to drop by and see the progress that’s been made, please do so,” said city council member and former Mayor Robert McGarvey, speaking at the Rancho Cordova Library recently.  “It’s really going forward, and we’re looking forward to getting this done.”

First scheduled for February, Phase 1’s completion date has been moved to April. “The reason it has been delayed a little is that we have added a gray water recapture system,” said Reed Flory, reinvestment and housing opportunities manager for the City of Rancho Cordova. “The water will be used to irrigate on-site landscaping.”

Rick Sprague, a regional vice president with Mercy Housing California, expects new residents to begin moving in between April 1 and April 15 of this year. “Once the project receives its Certificate of Occupancy, anticipated end of March/very early April, occupancy by residents will begin immediately.”

As for how the qualifying veterans will be located, Sprague said, that process is being coordinated and organized by Veterans Resource Centers of America.  Interested veterans may contact VRC directly at their office at 7270 East Southgate Dr., Sacramento, or call (916) 393-8387.

Phase 2, Flory said, will be scheduled once Phase 1 is complete. It is possible, however, that work on Phase 2 and possibly even Phase 3 could begin by the end of this year. Phase 2 includes 48 transitional beds to be located on the second floor of the old officers’ quarters, and Phase 3 will be the construction of 50 more permanent housing units in another L-shaped building similar to the unit now approaching completion.

The City of Rancho Cordova, in a related subject, is searching for a location for all of the veteran organizations to come together, someplace stable where files can be kept, phone calls received, and meetings held. “We don’t really have a headquarters,” McGarvey said. “Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and all the rest of them, there is no place really for them to go.”

In addition, McGarvey said that many cities have a plaque, a wall, or a monument that lists names of local veterans. Rancho Cordova does not currently have anything of that sort. “That’s something I’m going to be working on this coming year and ahead,” McGarvey said.

Mather Veterans Village, McGarvey said, is a joint project of the Veterans Administration, Sacramento County, the City of Rancho Cordova, Mercy Housing, and “three or four other veteran organizations who have been helping us with this and are all part of this thing.”