KOAM TV 7 Joplin and PittsburgTransitional housing residents moving back in after tornado damages complex

After five months of rebuilding and remodeling one of the Ozark Center's transitional housing complexes reopens and it's residents return.

The Cedar Hill Apartments houses people suffering from mental illnesses or who have completed a substance abuse program.

The complex sustained significant damage in the May 22 tornado and for many of the returning residents today marked a long-awaited welcome home.

For Nick Kloer, 25, moving back into his apartment is a chance to move on.

"I was freaking out," Kloer says.  "I saw all the destruction behind the building and I was like 'oh no, my stuff's gone'.  I didn't know what I was going to have left."

Kloer is one of 12 independent living residents who were forced to relocate after the tornado and stay temporarily with family and friends.

"It was sad but I learned a few things while I was away and hopefully I'll put them to task when I come back," says Kloer.

Staff members are just as excited to return.

"It makes my heart patter, it really does, it makes me feel like it's finally coming together and November 1st couldn't get here fast enough," says Lisa Badgley, Ozarks Center Program Development Director.

Also among the seven returning residents is Bruce Huffaker.  He and Kloer agree the move is bringing back a sense of independence.

"I thought, well wonderful, it's just a chance to do things for yourself," says Huffaker.

"I just missed being able to live on my own and the interaction with people and the groups," says Kloer.  "I think Joplin needs more group homes like this for people like me."

Homes that can offer a stable environment.

"We want to get them as close to the routine and normalcy of what life was like prior to the tornado, because of their mental illnesses, they have a lot of anxiety and just in general the feeling they need to have what it was before and we want to give that back to them," says Badgley.

In addition to the re-opening of Cedar Hill Apartments the Ozark Center is also preparing to open it's Magnolia Heights Independent Living apartments which were also damaged in the storm.

Those should be available for residents to move into next month.