The governor wants to build three new, state-run nursing homes just for veterans.
Florida already operates six veterans’ homes with a total of 720 beds, but there are 700,000 veterans over the age of 65 in the state.
The Florida Cabinet already approved one of the new facilities for St. Lucie County. But Gov. Scott added two more to his legislative wish list.Steve Murray is spokesman for the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
"It’s too early to speculate for the location of homes number 8 and 9 right now", Murray said. "But it will certainly be a very public process it will be done in the sunshine so all the counties will have an opportunity to take a look and make a bid based on the germination."
The three new veterans’ nursing homes would cost the state a proposed $7.4 million.
Typically, the federal Veterans Administration contributes 65 percent of the construction cost for veterans’ skilled nursing homes.