Two U.S. Army corporals who were seriously wounded overseas received the keys to mortgage-free, custom-built homes on Saturday in San Antonio, Florida, and the two men are now next-door neighbors in Pasco County. Eddie Ward and Roberto Cruz-Arocho became homeowners at a key ceremony that drew the community together to celebrate the end of a long journey from battlefield injury to civilian independence.
The ceremony took place on Saturday with community shuttles running from Heritage Bible Church, according to America250. San Antonio is a small town in eastern Pasco County near Saint Leo University, and it is now home to two combat veterans whose injuries reshaped how they had to live. As reported by Tampa Bay 28, the nonprofit Homes For Our Troops built the homes around the veterans' needs and presented both men with keys to homes free of any mortgage.
Cruz-Arocho was paralyzed after being shot by a sniper during an eight-and-a-half-month deployment to Iraq in 2005. Years of physical therapy eventually restored his ability to walk, though he still copes with leg stiffness, balance issues, and periodic reliance on a wheelchair, per the Your Observer. He previously lived in nearby Wesley Chapel before moving into his new home. Speaking about the move, Cruz-Arocho said he feels reborn in a place adapted to his needs, according to Tampa Bay 28.
A Landmine Injury Forced a Move From Texas
Ward lost his right leg above the knee after stepping on a landmine in Afghanistan in 2011. The injury made his previous two-story house in San Antonio, Texas, increasingly difficult to manage, prompting his move into the new single-story home in Florida, the same outlet reports. Ward said he plans to teach diving in his new community, and he told Tampa Bay 28 that not having a mortgage lets him save money and pursue activities sooner than he otherwise could have.
Both custom, single-story homes were built by Jacksonville-based Elizabeth Evans Custom Homes, a veteran-owned firm led by retired Army Colonel Elizabeth Evans Weiss. The company has previously built Homes For Our Troops residences in nearby Wesley Chapel, according to Neighborhood News. The homes include more than 40 accessibility features designed to provide safety, freedom, and greater independence, per Tampa Bay 28.
A Community Golf Tournament Helped Fund the Build
Local fundraising for the project included support from the April 2026 Rosedale Golf Classic in Bradenton, which expanded its annual benefit tournament to support two veteran home builds simultaneously rather than its usual single recipient, the Your Observer reported. The tournament was founded by local residents specifically to benefit injured post-9/11 service members. That kind of grassroots backing matters to Homes For Our Troops, which operates without direct government funding and, according to leadership statements reported by Neighborhood News in March, directs nearly 90 cents of every dollar raised to its veteran housing program services. The organization was led in 2026 by retired Army Brigadier General Tom Landwermeyer.
Individual donors provide 75 percent of the nonprofit's funding, according to Tampa Bay 28. Nationwide, Homes For Our Troops has built 441 specially adapted homes for severely injured post-9/11 veterans, per the outlet's reporting. Florida has been one of the charity's most active states, reaching a milestone of 50 completed adapted homes across the state in June, according to the Osprey Observer.
Federal and State Support Complement the Gift
The mortgage-free homes arrive alongside other forms of assistance available to severely disabled veterans. For fiscal year 2026, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offers up to $126,526 through its Specially Adapted Housing grant program to help eligible veterans build or modify accessible residences, according to the Federal Register. Separately, under Section 196.081 of the Florida Statutes, honorably discharged veterans with a 100% total and permanent service-connected disability rating receive a full exemption from local property taxes on their primary homesteads — an exemption that can also transfer to an un-remarried surviving spouse.
Pasco County is a fitting place for this kind of initiative. Veterans make up roughly 10 percent of the county's population, or nearly 47,000 residents, including more than 10,000 who served during the post-9/11 Gulf War era, according to Stacker data cited in Hoodline's earlier Pasco veteran coverage. That concentration helps explain why the Tampa Bay area continues to see steady investment in adapted housing for wounded service members, from major nonprofit builds like this one to the accessibility upgrades highlighted in that same report.
