RAPID CITY - A new wing for homeless veterans at the Cornerstone Rescue Mission makes Rapid City unique, a Veterans Administration psychologist says.

"It's unusual for the VA to embed staff in a homeless shelter," said Dr. Robert Phares, who heads VA mental-health programs in the Black Hills.

A VA nurse practitioner and a VA social worker now have offices in the mission's new wing.

"That's a pretty big deal," Cornerstone executive director Jim Castleberry said.

The wing itself also is a big deal.

Tuesday afternoon, Castleberry and his colleagues cut the ribbon on an $850,000 addition to the mission, which is in Rapid City's old city hall at 30 Main St.

The addition adds enough space for 60 new beds for veterans. That's in addition to the 26 beds for veterans and 60 other beds in the original building.

The VA paid $440,000 of the cost of the addition.

The rest of the project was paid for through donations and in-kind contributions from contractors, including Jim Scull Construction.

In addition to office space for Cornerstone counselors and the VA personnel, the new wing has counseling rooms, bathrooms and showers and an elevator for handicapped access.

Three dorm rooms have seven bunkbeds each, and the fourth dorm room is now used as a lounge, furnished with television and comfortable chairs. But each of the rooms is big enough to house 15 veterans, Castleberry said.

Veterans become homeless for many reasons, said Jim Goodrich, a retired Air Force master sergeant and a former B-1B Lancer bomber crew chief, who now is veterans coordinator for Cornerstone.

Goodrich said a few veterans were homeless, at least in part, because of combat experiences. "PTSD is real," he said.

Sometimes, veterans re-enter civilian life without marketable skills. "Nobody's looking for a sniper or a tank driver," Goodrich said.

Other veterans are homeless because of service-related injuries or illness.

However, a study in the 1996 by the National Coalition for the Homeless found that combat veterans were not at greater risk for homelessness.

Goodrich said veterans who end up on the street get there for the same reasons nonveterans become homeless. Some have abused alcohol or drugs. Some have mental illnesses. Some are just down on their luck.

Samuel King, 48, spent slightly more than three months in the U.S. Navy in 1978. He was honorably discharged with health problems, including bad knees, and he has held a variety of jobs over the past 29 years.

"I've traveled a lot," King said.

King moved into Cornerstone a year ago, when he was unable to earn enough money to for an apartment or mounting medical bills. "I didn't have money for anything," he said.

Now, King works part-time at a Rapid City bar, and he volunteers so much time at Cornerstone he was chosen to help cut the ribbon.

"It keeps me off the street," King said. For example, he spent two entire days assembling the wing's new bunk beds, one of which became his own. That bed allows King to get by on his small paycheck and even pay some bills.

The veterans wing is designed to be temporary housing. Veterans get counseling, job placement and advice on budgeting and help with benefits, including housing. Castleberry said qualified veterans often can find subsidized housing within months. The wait for nonveterans can be years.

The VA outreach at Cornerstone is especially important, Phares said, because homeless veterans often have health problems.

One of the reasons Cornerstone proposed the veterans addition is the quality and availability of VA health care in the Black Hills. "It's one of the best systems in the country," Castleberry said.

It includes VA medical centers at Fort Meade near Sturgis and at Hot Springs and a clinic in Rapid City - all available by transportation by vans at no cost.

The Black Hills VA Health Care System draws veterans to the area, and Castleberry expects to serve veterans from throughout the region - even from as far away as Minnesota and Colorado.

Cornerstone's new veterans wing is part of a major expansion of the mission during the past few years.

The mission also operates a shelter on Columbus Street for about 30 women and children (and women veterans).

Cornerstone's new transitional apartments on Signal Drive, near Star Village, are scheduled to open in January. That $2.5 million project will house 100 or so, Castleberry said.

When Castleberry took over Cornerstone in 2003, there were beds for 86. By early next year, the total will be nearly 280.

Homeless veterans data

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness:

* 26 percent of homeless people are veterans (though estimates range from 23 percent to 40 percent)

* 11 percent of the general population are veterans

* 196,000 veterans were homeless on a given night in 2006, up .8 percent from 2005

* 337,000 veterans were homeless at some time during 2006.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com