Veteran transitional housing

[Stephen R.]

I'm trying to think creatively and am looking for a little advice on a strategy. I hope this is the best forum for this so if someone thinks this should be redirected please speak up. I'm posing the question here because on complicated issues like this BP seems to be an island in a bucket of crabs. 

I'm looking at a foreclosure that's been on the market for just over 2 years. It's a single family residential in a R-A Single Family zone. It's a 5 bed, over 4,000 sf and presents like a hotel (which is what gave me the idea). I think it hasn't sold because its stands out in a neighborhood of 1,400 sf capes. (They are newer construction and this is early 19th century) It would be a short sale even though it's priced below the assessed value and will require considerable rehab. 

My first thought was renting it to students from the nearby university but I'm thinking of the push-back I would get from the neighbors as well as the issues of owning a large student housing. (Of course, I am keeping this as a backup exit strategy). I currently donate to Homes for Our Troops and then thought, why not, instead of donating, open my own? I wouldn't have to worry about the cops showing up every Friday night, noise complaints from the city, angry neighbors, my business name being tarnished forever and I'd get to check one more thing off my bucket list. 

What I would like to do is rehab the place and rent it out to needy vets. I don't want to necessarily call it a group home but something similar. I think if it were designed specifically as a home for vets with PTSD, for instance, I'd run into issues with the city and the neighbors. But I do think a lot of transitioning vets need to surround themselves with other vets, because they're the only ones who can understand what they've experienced. I guess you'd call it transitional housing.

My question is where to begin? Would I need to get a zoning variance? If I understand the regulations correctly, as long as I did not divide the rooms, similar to a hotel, I wouldn't run afoul of the zoning rules. This town does not, as many do, have a restriction of the number of non-related persons that may live together. Do I simply get the house under contract, begin my rehab and market it in coordination with the local VA? I did some research regarding transitional housing from the SBA and VA but most of them talk about networking, effective marketing and operations of the home as opposed to the potential pitfalls. Does anyone have experience with this or even turning a SFR to a multi unit rental?