By HFT Editorial Staff

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System has released the draft of its West LA Campus’s Master Plan 2022 for public review and comment. The plan guides the system’s decades-long effort to reshape its facilities and capital assets, covering a variety of construction, redevelopment, and leasing activities related to VA’s master planning process for one of VA’s largest and most complex integrated healthcare systems.

The draft master plan (DMP)establishes a framework to assist the VA in determining and implementing the most effective use of the West LA campus. The DMP states the guidelines and principles for development and regeneration and introduces broad concepts and recommendations for improvement.

Master Plan 2022 will build on the DMP as a framework and guide the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System’s decades-long effort to reshape its facilities and capital assets, covering a variety of construction, redevelopment, and leasing activities related to VA’s master planning process for one of VA’s largest and most complex integrated healthcare systems.Some key elements of the DMP include these:

• It provides appropriate levels of supportive housing on the WLA Campus tailored to the needs of vulnerable Veteran sub-populations
• It optimizes formerly leased properties, under-utilized buildings, and vacant land on the WLA campus to better serve the Veteran community.
• It provides opportunities for veterans to interact and receive other non-medical support services, such as education and employment training, legal services and benefits.
• It modernizes and reorganizes uses and functions of the WLA campus to provide for ease of access and improved efficiency.

The DMP calls for the development of at least 1,200 units of supportive housing for homeless and at-risk veterans and their families on the North Campus, using VA’s enhanced use leasing authority. The WLA on-campus veteran housing will be carefully planned to ensure a safe, dignified community environment that will function independently, but in coordination with other care and services for Veterans provided on both the North Campus and South Campus of the WLA campus and in the surrounding community. The development of the residential community on the WLA campus provides a tremendous opportunity to address veteran’s homelessness on a large scale in the proximity of healthcare and other services they need.