Brentwood Community Council Chair Larry Watts Reports on Last Week’s Meeting of the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils:
Congressman Ted Lieu attended the monthly meeting of the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils (WRAC) this week. He was peppered with many questions relating to veterans and the ongoing development of a Master Plan for the WLA VA Campus in Brentwood.
His responses reflected a genuine commitment to our veterans and to improving operations for veterans at the WLA VA Campus. He acknowledged that the VA had allowed the campus to wither and was not fully carrying out its mission to provide services to veterans, as exemplified by the padlocked front gate.
Congressman Lieu made clear that as part of the Master Plan, the VA is determined to improve services to veterans on the campus, including addressing the needs of homeless veterans. However, he made clear it neither makes sense nor is it the VA’s objective to have the campus become the depository for large numbers of homeless veterans. He pointed out that housing is not in itself a solution.
The underlying causes, which may be substance abuse, mental health issues, etc., require treatment and must be provided to allow veterans to escape from long term homelessness. However, these supportive services cannot be successfully delivered by housing large numbers in any single location. Accordingly, using HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers, the VA intends to seek housing for homeless vets throughout GLA and not concentrate them on the WLA VA Campus.
For the most part this will require finding private housing.
The VA, along with the City of LA and the County of LA are identifying private property owners throughout GLA who will accept homeless vets as tenants. Importantly, we were told HUD-VASH vouchers not only provide rental assistance, they include case management and clinical services provided by the VA.
According to Lieu, the VA has found housing for about 1,800 vets so far this year under the HUD-VASH program. That’s frankly quite amazing if the total homeless vet population in GLA is actually around the 4,000 figure mentioned by the VA at last week’s Design Open House. But my experience is that the number seems to be something of a moving target. The Congressman acknowledged this and suggested this variation apparently arises in part because of the highly publicized push to provide accommodations for homeless vets in GLA. As a result, he said homeless vets from other areas appear to be moving here to take advantage of the VA commitment to locate housing in GLA.
Congressman Lieu said one obstacle preventing the VA from helping all homeless vets is legal. The VA is forbidden by current law from providing services to any vet who received a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge. He had no data on the number of homeless vets who received a dishonorable or BCD. My guess would be that the homeless vet population likely has a larger percentage with a disqualifying discharge status than the general vet population. Because of this, Lieu is pressing legislation to allow the VA to help homeless vets without regard to the category of discharge they received.
On the so-called “enhanced use leases” question, Congressman Lieu and Senators Feinstein and Boxer are sponsoring legislation to allow the VA to carry out leases at the 387-acre campus with third parties that benefit disadvantaged veterans, including homeless, disabled, aging and women veterans. He explained that help for veterans is one subject with genuine bi-partisan in Washington and he is hopeful the bill will become law.
On a tangential issue, the Purple Line is not scheduled to reach the WLA VA Campus until 2035. Funds to build the line will become available over time through local sales tax and other local revenues. The Congressman was asked whether the federal government could loan the MTA money to speed up the timetable for completing the Purple Line. This would make it easier for vets to get to the VA for medical or other appointments. It should also help our overall Westside transportation gridlock. Lieu will check on this.
For more information about the West L.A. VA Master Plan, visit www.helphouselavets.com.
