Two national home builders are honoring military veterans and their families this fall with the gift of mortgage-free homeownership.
Meritage Homes, through its partnership with Operation Homefront, welcomed U.S. Navy veteran Maggie Coleman and her family to a new home in Gulfport, Mississippi, on Veterans Day. Meanwhile, PulteGroup’s Built to Honor program and Building Homes for Heroes will present mortgage-free homes to U.S. Army veterans Carson Shaw and Ryan Heard and their families ahead of Thanksgiving.
The initiatives provide the families with greater housing stability while building on both companies’ long-standing efforts to support military families.
Meritage Welcomes Navy Veteran Home
Meritage Homes and Operation Homefront presented Coleman and her two children with the keys to a new, mortgage-free home during a Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 11.
The approximately 2,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bath home is located in Meritage’s Hidden Trails community in Gulfport, Mississippi. The donation marks the 23rd home Meritage has donated to a military family.
Coleman served 13 years in the Navy, including deployments to Italy and Kuwait. The home allows her family to put down permanent roots in her home state of Mississippi.
“I want to give my children everything I didn’t have,” Coleman said. “I want this home to be a place where my kids and I can share stories and make memories.”
“We’re proud to help welcome the Coleman family home to Gulfport,” Meritage Homes CEO Phillippe Lord said. “We recognize the service and sacrifices she and her family have made, and we’re honored to share in this special moment with them.”
The home was provided through Operation Homefront’s Permanent Homes for Veterans program, which works to help military families achieve long-term stability through mortgage-free housing and other support.
PulteGroup to Welcome Two Army Veterans Home
PulteGroup will continue the season of giving Nov. 18, when its Built to Honor program and Building Homes for Heroes present the keys to two mortgage-free homes at the builder’s Spencer Glen community in Riverview, Florida.
The homes will go to U.S. Army Sergeant Carson Shaw and his partner, Annalisa, and Purple Heart recipient U.S. Army Specialist Ryan Heard, his partner, Danielle, and their two children.
Shaw joined the Army in 2019 at age 18 and completed deployments to Iraq and Syria and to Africa. A line-of-duty motor vehicle accident in 2024 left him paralyzed from the waist down. He also lives with the effects of a traumatic brain injury and bilateral hearing loss.
Since his injury, Shaw has participated in six adaptive sports at the Warrior Games and plays wheelchair basketball with the Tampa Strong Dogs. His new accessible home will provide a stable foundation as he pursues a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics.
Heard enlisted in the Army in 2007 and completed two deployments to Iraq and one to Afghanistan. During his 2013 deployment to Afghanistan, an improvised explosive device detonated beneath Heard and three fellow soldiers. Despite sustaining a severe traumatic brain injury, Heard helped treat wounded soldiers and coordinate a medical evacuation before losing consciousness, according to the release.
Heard, who received a Purple Heart, also lives with PTSD, chronic migraines, hearing loss, and chronic pain. His new home will provide him and his family with a mortgage-free place to put down roots.
The two homes continue a significant milestone for PulteGroup’s Built to Honor program. Since its launch in 2013, PulteGroup has built and donated more than 100 mortgage-free homes valued at over $40 million to veterans and their families.
Building Homes for Heroes is also celebrating its 20th anniversary and expects to reach its milestone 500th home in December.
