By HFT Staff

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the nation’s largest healthcare system, serving about 9 million veterans nationwide through 171 medical facilities and more than 1,000 outpatient care locations. To maximize its resources and patient care, the system regularly overhauls its operations nationwide. 

Amid that vast undertaking, one VA campus is rethinking its campus and revamping its operations to address a specific issue – veteran homelessness. VA Secretary Denis McDonough recently released Master Plan 2022, detailing the updated vision for a stable and supportive community for homeless and other at-risk veterans and their families at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. 

Among the facility-related components of the plan for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System are these changes: 

• Enabling the West LA campus to provide a variety of high-quality supportive housing and a holistic set of resources tailored to the needs of vulnerable veteran populations and their families 
• Interconnecting campus operations in real-time with available off-site resources, including VA community-based facilities/services; state, county, city and neighborhood systems; veteran service organizations and non-profit organizations 
• Optimizing the West LA campus while restoring original structures and key outdoor spaces, and developing new facilities, services and amenities that are compatible with the character of the campus. 

Master Plan 2022 is the culmination of the latest processes to update the Draft Master Plan signed in 2016. As part of this initiative, the VA has: 

• finalized environmental impact statement to allow for development of the 388-acre West Los Angeles campus 
• Secured $75.5 million in fiscal year (FY) 2020 through FY 2022 for utility and infrastructure capital improvements with an additional $34.6 million allocated for FY 2023 
• Concluded construction of a Women Veterans Transitional Housing program 
• Competitively selected a principal developer and started construction on three additional buildings providing a combined total of 180 permanent supportive housing units 
• Signed an easement agreement with Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for a new Metro station to bring regional transportation back to the West LA campus for thousands of Veterans and employees.