On April 22, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs unveiled its “Master Plan 2022” for combating veterans homelessness in the country by first focusing on its West Los Angeles campus.
The VA has previously expressed its desire to use the Southern California metropolitan center as a springboard for solving the growing homeless veteran crisis in the country. “As the homeless problem is solved in LA, it gives momentum to VA’s ongoing efforts across the country.”
To continue the recent strides it has made in the area, the VA plans to continue “redeveloping” the West Los Angeles VA campus to create hundreds of additional housing units for homeless veterans. The VA will provide each homeless veteran on the campus with “direct assistance” on the factors that led them to become homeless, including employment, mental health care, legal assistance, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and more. According to Master Plan 2022, these programs will continue to grow for the next three to five years.
Additionally, the VA plans to increase funding for the successful U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing, or HUD-VASH, program by approximately $20 million. In the past, major California cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco have seen a lion’s share of HUD-VASH vouchers used to help veterans find housing.
Other notable developments affecting California veterans in the plan include:
- Each VA medical center in the U.S. will receive funding to add one additional Health Care for Homeless Veterans social worker in 2023. California is home to nine of these facilities.
- The VA signed an agreement with the city of Los Angeles to build a new metro station near the West Los Angeles campus. However, completion of the project is not expected until 2027.
- The VA plans to better connect, “in real-time,” VA operations relating to veteran homelessness with local, county, and state entities, including veterans service organizations.
- The VA will continue to cater unused or “under-utilized” buildings on VA land on the south and north partitions of the West Los Angeles campus for homeless veterans.
Readers can view the VA’s entire Master Plan 2022 here.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
