Outreach crews, sheriff’s deputies, and federal officials worked with residents of a homeless camp on the outskirts of the West Los Angeles federal Veterans Administration campus to clear a longtime encampment that has become known as Veterans Row.
Some residents in the Brentwood area have long decried the encampment as an eyesore in the upscale neighborhoods, while also expressing dismay that many veterans were forced to live in ramshackle tents erected on the sidewalk in the shadow of the VA complex.
Much like the overall homeless crisis, homelessness among veterans was a significant issue before the coronavirus outbreak began — and only worsened during the pandemic, experts say. The encampment near the VA site grew over the months as well.
U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough recently toured the West L.A. encampment, and last month he vowed to find temporary housing for about three dozen homeless veterans who have been living there, while also saying hundreds more homeless vets would be given shelter by year’s end.
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