VA Unveils New Plan to House LA's Homeless Veterans, Falls Flat with Advocacy Groups

[Sherman A1]

Last Nov. 1, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department teamed up to move roughly 40 homeless veterans living along a sidewalk to the property of the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus, right next to their former encampment known as Veterans Row.

At the time, VA Secretary Denis McDonough vowed to house another 500 homeless vets in the city by Dec. 31. The department succeeded, finding shelter for 667 veterans in a city with more than 3,600 homeless vets -- roughly 10% of the country's entire population of homeless former service members.

"Every once in a while, you run across these phrases in the English language that shouldn't really exist. I think one of those phrases is 'homeless veteran,'" McDonough said in a November news conference. "As long as I'm here, I'm going to do everything I possibly can to get them into houses."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/04/23/va-unveils-new-plan-house-las-homeless-veterans-falls-flat-advocacy-groups.html

[denbot]

1. Rehab, mental health, along with homeless advocates have asked for VETERANS use.

This has been true since the Gulf Wars, and the place where I get my care. There is a sweetheart deal to keep veterans from being able to use VA resources is almost a certainty.