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Veterans Are Welcome Here

Smart Step operates structured recovery residences across metro Atlanta — homes with standards, accountability, and a community of people rebuilding together. If you served and you need stable, sober housing, you are welcome, and the door opens the same day you knock on it.

If you need help right now

Veterans Crisis Line — call 988 and press 1, or text 838255. Free, confidential, 24 hours a day; you do not need to be enrolled in VA care to use it. For housing specifically, the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans is 877-424-3838 — also 24/7, and also for veterans at risk of losing housing, not only those who already have.

What a Smart Step home offers a veteran

Structure is what our homes run on — and it's the part most veterans tell us civilian housing never had. Every home operates under written house standards with a house manager, and every resident is part of a community doing the same work.

  • A furnished bed in a well-kept home, with house standards everyone signs and follows.
  • Accountability that respects you — curfew and chore check-ins, milestones, and a house manager who knows your name.
  • A recovery-supportive community: meetings tracked, progress recognized, and no one rebuilding alone.
  • Your VA benefits and programs stay yours — living here runs alongside them, never in place of them.

What Smart Step is — and honestly is not

Smart Step Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) recovery residence operator. We are not a VA program, and living in a Smart Step home is not a substitute for one. If a VA housing program is what your situation calls for, the fastest paths are the numbers above and the Georgia Department of Veterans Service (404-656-2300), whose field offices exist to help you claim what you have earned. Our guide to housing help for veterans in Georgia walks through who to call and what each program actually is.

How to get in

  • Apply online — the application takes minutes and starts a real conversation, not a queue.
  • No bed in your county today? Join the waitlist — where veterans ask for housing is part of how we decide where the next home opens.
  • Referring someone who served — a chaplain, VSO, or fellow veteran? Send a referral and we'll take it from there.

Common questions

Is Smart Step a VA program?
No. Smart Step is an independent 501(c)(3) recovery residence operator, not a VA program and not a substitute for one. Veterans are welcome in our homes, and VA benefits and programs can run alongside living here — your VA relationship stays yours.
Do I need to be in recovery to live in a Smart Step home?
Smart Step operates structured recovery residences: homes with house standards, accountability, and a community of people rebuilding together. If that structure fits what you need, apply — the application and a conversation decide fit, not a label.
How do I apply?
Start at smartstepcorp.org/apply. If no bed fits today, join the waitlist and tell us what county you need — veteran interest helps us decide where to open the next home.
What should I do if I'm about to lose my housing?
Call the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans at 877-424-3838 — free, confidential, 24 hours a day, and also for veterans at risk, not only those already without housing. Calling before you lose housing opens more doors than calling after.