AG: Charlotte group claiming to help homeless vets dissolving, has major problems

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte nonprofit that pledges to rehabilitate houses for homeless veterans is shutting down after the attorney general found major problems.

Channel 9's Allison Latos was the first to report on the investigation into Veterans Path Up in March.

[PAST COVERAGE: Finances in question for nonprofit aimed at helping house veterans]

The Attorney General’s Office has been looking into Veterans Path Up since summer 2018 and has questioned how the charity spends the money donors give and if it's really helping veterans.

Attorney General Josh Stein said the problems go beyond bookkeeping.

Willie Davis has called Norris Avenue home for four years.

“I was thrilled to have my own home,” Davis said.

The Vietnam veteran achieved homeownership for the first time with the help of Veterans Path Up.

The charity, which boasts it fixes up one home every month in Charlotte, has renovated seven houses since it launched in 2015.

“Concerns about financial mismanagement,” Stein said. “Concerns about misrepresentations on their website. Failure to secure appropriate licenses.”

Latos asked Stein if the organization has been truthful.

“They made claims about the number of veterans on their board of directors that were not accurate and in terms of financial mismanagement, the records of the organization were not in good shape,” Stein replied. “It was hard to see how the funds were being used.”

Stein said executive director Ken Lacy has been fired and the board agreed to shut down Veterans Path Up.

“They are in the process of dissolving, so it will no longer exist in North Carolina,” Stein said. “If not now, very shortly.”

Davis hopes the news about Veterans Path Up doesn't stop people from helping vets like him in the future.

“(People) should continue to give to other organizations that are standing strong and doing good,” Davis said.

The current board of Veterans Path Up sent Latos a statement acknowledging that the attorney general investigation at a minimum, "paints a disturbing picture of an organization in administrative disarray.

The organization added, "We have begun seeking local nonprofit partners who might be able to acquire our properties and serve our participants."

Last week, Congress said it is trying to help homeless veterans get off the streets by providing them with more legal assistance.  There's a proposed bill called the Homeless Veterans Prevention Act of 2019.

The bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to give grants to groups that provide legal services to homeless vets or vets at risk of becoming homeless.

The latest data indicates there are 285 homeless veterans in Mecklenburg County.

Home for Our Heroes is a group that tries to find homes for veterans and it is trying to get the number of homeless vets down to 200 by the end of 2019.

[LINK: Meck County Housing for Our Heroes]

They've made a lot of progress since the program started in 2014, when there were 600 vets considered homeless.

Statement from the Veterans Path UP Charlotte Board of Directors:

"The current VPU Charlotte board of directors recently met with staff from the office of the NC Attorney General’s office to receive an update on their investigation examining the charges made against the organization. While the investigation has not arrived at any conclusive findings to validate the charges made by the former board member, at a minimum it paints a disturbing picture of an organization in administrative disarray.  

"The information from our meeting with the staff from the NC Attorney General's office, combined with the increasing difficulty in acquiring homes in the Charlotte area that fit the VPU model, made the VPU Charlotte mission difficult if not impossible. In response to this, our board voted to dissolve VPU Charlotte. In addition, we asked for and received a letter of resignation from Ken Lacy. 

"The board of directors is committed to ending the activities of Veteran’s Path Up Charlotte in a way that best serves our current program participants and honors the investments made by our supporters. To that end we have met with program participants individually and will continue to support them and keep them informed. We have begun seeking local nonprofit partners who might be able to acquire our properties and serve our participants. We continue to work closely with the office of the NC Attorney General on our plan to fully wind down operations by August 2020."

Cox Media Group