REP LIEU WELCOMES VA SECRETARY TO WEST LA VA FOR TOUR OF CAMPUS INCLUDING SUPPORTIVE HOUSING SITES

LOS ANGELES – Last week, Congressman Ted W. Lieu joined Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Takano and other VA officials for a tour of the West LA VA campus including sites for future permanent supportive housing.

The group toured areas where supportive housing for homeless veterans is being completed as a part of the West LA VA Master Plan. In 2016, Rep. Lieu coauthored the West LA Leasing Act, which helped spur redevelopment of the West LA VA campus to better serve the needs of veterans, including homeless veterans. Most recently, President Biden signed into law Rep. Lieu and Senator Dianne Feinstein's West Los Angeles VA Campus Improvement Act of 2021, which will further provide the West LA VA with vital resources to address veteran homelessness.

Background on the West L.A. VA:

In 2016, President Obama signed into law the West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016, which was co-authored by Congressman Lieu. The law ensures that the VA enters into leases that benefit veterans and their families first and foremost. It authorized the Department to implement a Master Plan for the West L.A. VA campus with enhanced-use leases. Before this new law, parts of the campus were being rented to various third parties that sometimes provided little to no value for veterans and their families. For example, the FBI investigated and convicted officials and contractors who defrauded the West L.A. VA out of more than $13 million in relation to a parking lot scheme on the campus. The West Los Angeles VA Campus Improvement Act of 2021 ensures any money recouped from that fraud will go back to serving veterans at the West L.A. campus.

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