It was heartening to hear Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough recently announce an ambitious but doable goal: to house — in permanent homes, not just temporary motel rooms — 500 homeless veterans in the Los Angeles area by the end of the year. He also pledged to get temporary housing, at least, for the 40-some people, mostly veterans and their partners, living in a tent encampment along a stretch of San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood that borders the campus of the West L.A. VA.
Timelines for housing veterans have come and gone before. In 2015, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti vowed to house every homeless veteran in the city but backed off when the count that year showed veteran homelessness had risen 6%. We welcome the renewed urgency and hope this time the promise is kept.
Since then, the rise in veteran homelessness in L.A. County has abated — but even as veterans get housed, others become unhoused. About 3,900 veterans in L.A. County remain unhoused, according to the most recent count in 2020. The VA says it housed 1,283 veterans from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021. Which raises the question of just how many veterans remain unhoused in L.A. County? No one has an up-to-date answer, but it’s certainly more than 500.
Now there are enormous resources on hand for veterans, including more than 1,300 rental vouchers set aside for veterans, according to officials of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. And that doesn’t count the veterans with vouchers in hand who can’t find an apartment that they can afford or a landlord willing to take them.
Click here to read the full article.