A place to land after service: Charleston veteran gets keys to affordable home and a fresh start

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — A Lowcountry veteran received the keys to a home of her own on Veterans Day, marking a milestone she once thought might never happen.

Tiffany McGirt purchased the one-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage through Charleston Habitat for Humanity’s Veterans Build initiative. The home, located in the Liberty Hill community of North Charleston, offers a smaller, more affordable housing option designed to give her a place to call her own.

McGirt named it “cozy,” but said the home represents much more than its size.

“I never thought I would have a home of my own, let alone something so perfectly fitted to me, so ideal and unique and in this incredible neighborhood,” McGirt said. “It kind of takes my breath away every time I think about it.”

For years, McGirt said, keeping up with housing costs meant constantly worrying.

“I didn’t really digest how dire things were, so much as just make it through this month, make it through this lease, make it through this rent increase,” she said.

The financial pressure sometimes meant giving up the things that mattered most.

“It gets incredibly stressful, and you make some tough decisions between extracurriculars for your young person or essentials for your household,” McGirt said. “It takes some balancing.”

McGirt served nearly 11 years as a Marine Corps logistics officer before continuing her commitment to service at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, where she serves fellow veterans.

She said the transition from military to civilian life can bring challenges that extend beyond finances, with many veterans struggling to find stability and adjust to a different way of living.

“After the kind of experiences you have in the military, for a lot of us, it’s difficult to come home and stay home,” McGirt said.

“Many of us do suffer emotionally and mentally. We struggle with stability. We struggle to participate in society. The rules are so totally different between a military mindset and settling into civilian life, and a lot of us don’t get to settle. But we have to do the work to change that.”

Those challenges come as veterans across South Carolina face significant housing affordability concerns.

Approximately 7.6% of South Carolina veterans live in poverty, while nearly 22.5% spend more than 30% of their gross income on housing, exceeding the affordability threshold recognized by housing advocates.

The state has roughly 227,500 veteran homeowners, with about 52,500 living in homes with major issues, including poor conditions, overcrowding or unaffordable housing costs. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates around 360 veterans in South Carolina experience homelessness.

The need is also significant in the Charleston area. More than 26,000 veterans live in Charleston County, representing about 7.8% of the population. About 91% are older than 35, and more than two-thirds are 55 or older, highlighting the need for affordable and accessible housing options as veterans age.

Lynn Bowley, executive director of Charleston Habitat for Humanity, said veterans can face a tough reality when returning to their former communities.

“Probably the biggest factor for veterans is that they have been out of the workforce for a while,” Bowley said. “When they come out and transition back into civilian life, often the costs have escalated exponentially over the period of time that they were serving. So, a community that they could afford when they went into service is no longer affordable when they come out.”

Charleston Habitat for Humanity became a Veterans Build affiliate in 2017, the same year Bowley joined the organization. When she arrived in Charleston, she recognized that the need for veteran housing in the Lowcountry was just as significant, if not greater, than what she had seen before.

The Veterans Build initiative combines affordable housing with critical home repairs, volunteer engagement, workforce pathways and advocacy to support veterans, active-duty military members and their families.

For McGirt, having an organization recognize those needs has made a lasting difference. She said military service often means putting the needs of others first, leaving some veterans less likely to seek help for themselves.

“It means the world that somebody’s focused on us as a particular demographic because we don’t really think of ourselves,” McGirt said. “Service is selfless in and of itself, and by our nature, I don’t think that we look to our own needs so much as how we can serve others.”

Fatima Hargrove, homeowner services manager for Charleston Habitat for Humanity, said helping veterans like McGirt achieve homeownership is something she’ll never take for granted.

“You could change one person’s life, one person at a time,” Hargrove said. “One dream maker at a time, one dream at a time.”

Hargrove said McGirt’s willingness to put in the work and share her experience could encourage other veterans to pursue similar opportunities.

“Her dream realized looks like another veteran’s dream and another veteran’s dream,” Hargrove said. “To give that to her and to the community that she serves, that we serve, we can’t replace that with anything.”

Bowley acknowledged that building individual homes will not solve the region’s larger housing affordability crisis.

“The fact that people can no longer live in the community in which they work is scandalous,” Bowley said.

She encouraged people to volunteer with Habitat, whether by helping build a home for a veteran or another family like McGirt.

“Maybe it doesn’t fix the whole crisis, but for the family or the person who gets the house, it fixes that crisis 100%,” Bowley said.

Charleston Habitat is already working to extend that opportunity to another veteran. A second, nearly identical cottage is under construction right next door to McGirt’s home.

Veterans interested in applying for homeownership can find eligibility requirements and application information through Charleston Habitat for Humanity’s homeownership program.

McGirt hopes more housing options like these will become available to veterans navigating the transition back to civilian life. She also encouraged veterans to connect with the resources available to them and support one another.

“We have to want it because the resources are definitely there,” she said. “We just need to connect with them and take care of each other.”

For McGirt, this Veterans Day marks the beginning of a different chapter.

“This is just the beginning,” she said. “It ends a lot of bad things. It ends the worries, the limitations, the financial assault that is the rental market. It ends so many negative things and begins space for all kinds of positive things.”