The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System treats veterans from every state, many of them transplant patients at its Oakland hospital.

At any one time, the families of about 30 veterans are in town.

But they often have to pay a lot for a hotel and then negotiate their way around a city they don't know to get to and from the hospital.

"They just want to be close," said Ronald Conley, director of Allegheny County Veterans' Services. "They either stay at the hospital or at a hotel. And when they stay at the hospital, you'll find families that will pull up a chair in the reception area and sleep right there."

In some cases, here and across the country, relatives have been known to sleep in their cars.

But next year they should be able to stay for free at a big new house on the grounds of the Oakland facility, courtesy of the nonprofit Fisher House Foundation, the federal government and local donations.

The foundation, based in Maryland, has built 38 such "comfort houses" at military bases and VA centers nationwide. The one here will cost about $5 million and accommodate 42 families, said Jim Weiskopf, executive vice president of communications for Fisher House.

The original price was about $3.5 million, but that figure was based on a 21-room Fisher House built in Houston four years ago. Costs have ballooned since then.

Half the money will come from the foundation, which in most years receives some federal funding in addition to donations.

But the other half will have to come from private donations locally.

The VA is prohibited from raising funds, so the state American Legion is soliciting contributions along with Mr. Conley, a Vietnam veteran.

The American Legion has raised about $100,000 and received another $100,000 from other sources in the last seven months. That money will be sent to the foundation specifically for the Pittsburgh house.

If the local donations fall short of the goal, the foundation will make up the difference.

"We're not going to hold the community hostage," said Mr. Weiskopf. "Once we start building it, we're going to finish it."

Dave Cowgill, a VA spokesman in Pittsburgh, said the plot of land has been selected and groundbreaking is planned for next spring.

He and Mr. Conley said the VA has a need for the house because of its growing role as a national treatment and specialized care facility.

Big military hospitals, such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center, provide care for veterans wounded in combat, but centers such as VA Pittsburgh are designed for follow-up care and services such as physical therapy.

Families will stay free of charge at the 16,800-square-foot building, which will be built to match the local style of architecture. Fisher Houses are all different, but they generally look like big, sprawling country homes, not institutional buildings.

Astorino Inc. is designing the Pittsburgh project and the foundation said it will bid out the work to local contractors.

After the house is built, the VA will take over maintenance and provide full-time managers to staff it around the clock.

The Fisher House isn't just for families. Veterans requiring continuing care but not hospitalization, such as a cancer patient who needs regular treatments, can also stay at the home.

Among military-based charities, the Fisher House Foundation has received high marks for its services and programs.

It was started by a man who never served in the military.

The late philanthropist Zachary Fisher grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and left school at 16 to help his father and brothers in the family construction business. Two years later he hurt his leg in a construction accident and was ineligible to serve in World War II.

He worked instead for the Coast Guard, helping to build coastal defenses. His wife Elizabeth, an Allegheny County native, entertained troops in Sicily in 1943 as a USO showgirl touring with Bob Hope.

After becoming successful in construction, Mr. Fisher devoted himself to patriotic causes.

In 1978, he led the effort to save the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid from being scrapped and turned it into a floating museum on the Hudson River.

Over the years, he and his wife gave money to many military families, including relatives of the victims of the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon; the Iraqi missile attack on the USS Stark in 1987, and the turret explosion aboard the USS Iowa in 1989.

The couple also set up a college scholarship fund for families of service members and, in 1990, built the first Fisher House in Portsmouth, Va.

Mr. Fisher was so respected by veterans that President Bill Clinton awarded him the Medal of Freedom in 1998, the country's highest civilian honor.

When he died in 1999 at age 88, the secretary of the Navy and other top military brass were among the 1,000 people who attended his funeral on the hangar deck of the Intrepid museum.

Mrs. Fisher died in 2004 at age 90.

The couple defined their philosophy with this quote from Mr. Fisher: "Elizabeth and I believe it is important to show in tangible ways our feelings of appreciation for our country and the courageous, professional and dedicated men and women who protect and defend it, enabling the rest of us to enjoy the freedoms that we too often take for granted."

Donations to the local Fisher House should be sent to:

Ronald Conley, Allegheny County Veterans Affairs, 4141 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh 15213.

Checks should be made out to "Fisher House Foundation" and marked "Pittsburgh Project" so the money will be set aside for the Fisher House here. Otherwise, the checks will end up in the foundation's general fund.