Antonio Hayward, a property manager from Harrisburg, is renovating a building in Sharon Hill to house homeless veterans, writes Kevin Tustin for the Daily Times.

Hayward has been working on the building on the 400 block of Sharon Avenue for nearly two years. He is creating three two-bedroom-apartment units and hopes to finish in a few months.

“I wanted to give them the best of the best because they deserve it,” said Hayward.

Hayward has many family members who served in the armed forces. For them and other veterans, he wrote a song, “Thank You for Your Service,” under the stage name Tony Jones and first performed it at Veterans Haven South, a veterans affairs housing program in New Jersey.

“It was an emotional thing to watch these vets with tears rolling down their faces,” he said.

Hayward, 45, has owned the Sharon Hill property for nearly a decade. When he decided to renovate, it was a struggle. But with help from labor unions and other organizations, he began making progress.

When the work is complete, Hayward is hoping it will be approved for use by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program.

Read more about Antonio Hayward’s effort to shelter homeless veterans in the Daily Times by clicking here.

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