President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday that aims to create a center for homeless veterans in Los Angeles and to improve medical care across the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The order calls for constructing a National Center for Warrior Independence on the campus of the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center that would provide housing and services to 3,000 homeless veterans currently in Los Angeles, with a goal to eventually home 6,000 veterans.
The West Los Angeles campus includes a 388-acre tract that was donated in 1888 to house disabled veterans. Its future was embroiled in ongoing litigation between advocates for homeless veterans and the federal government, which earns revenue from the property by leasing a portion of it to the UCLA baseball team, a private school and other private companies.
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In the executive order, Trump said the property should have facilities to "help our veterans earn back their self-sufficiency," providing housing, substance abuse or addiction treatment and opportunities to "return to productive work and community engagement."
Trump required that a plan for the center be drafted within 120 days and that the center be able to house up to 6,000 veterans by Jan. 1, 2028.
"Our nation's security, prosperity and freedom would not be possible without our veterans. Many service members paid the ultimate sacrifice. Many others bear visible and invisible wounds from their service. Too many veterans are homeless in America. Each veteran deserves our gratitude," according to the text of Trump's executive order.
The order indicates a shift in the federal government's intentions for the property. A California appeals court heard arguments last month in an ongoing lawsuit by homeless advocates who seek to end the leases to private tenants and use the land for housing the homeless.
A judge previously had ruled last year that the VA must build 1,800 permanent housing units on the grounds, but the department appealed the decision.
The appellate court has not yet issued its decision, but in a statement Friday following the release of the executive order, VA Secretary Doug Collins said the leases constituted "decades of mismanagement."
"Today's executive order will enable us to ensure VA's West Los Angeles campus is being used as intended: to benefit veterans," Collins said.
Proponents who have fought for years to return the property, which includes a state-run home for elderly veterans, to veteran use, praised the executive order. Rob Reynolds, an Iraq War veteran and advocate for homeless veterans in LA, called the shift the "morally correct thing to do."
"There's no reason our veterans should be on the street and dying," Reynolds said during an interview Monday. "I think this is something that everybody, regardless of your political belief, should come together and go, 'OK, let's get our veterans off the street. Let's solve this problem.'"
On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked municipalities to prohibit encampments and increase their efforts to clear tent camps within their cities. With his announcement, Newsom said he would release $3.3 billion in voter-approved funds to increase housing and treatment options for the homeless, who number roughly 187,000 residents.
"The time for inaction is over. There are no more excuses," Newsom said, according to The Associated Press.
The pressure from the state government underscores the need for expanded housing options on the West LA VA campus, said Reynolds in the wake of Newsom's announcement.
"I want to see veterans get on that property, and I don't want to see people just shuffled around, and all their stuff just going away and being cleared off the street," Reynolds said. "People drastically improve when they are inside and going through these programs."
In addition to addressing housing for the homeless, the executive order contains a number of initiatives geared toward accelerating veterans' access to medical care. It directs the VA to study building a full-service medical center in New Hampshire, the only state in the lower 48 that does not have a full-service hospital.
The order also requires the Veterans Health Administration to consider expanding office hours, including weekend appointments and more telehealth options, to reduce wait times at VA medical facilities.
The VA previously conducted "access sprints," instituting evening, weekend and expanded telehealth appointments for primary care, cardiology, gastroenterology and mental health services, in 2023 and 2024, an effort that increased the number of appointments by 11%, reduced wait times for primary care by 15%, and cut waits for mental health appointments by 5%, according to the VA.
The access sprints were not made permanent, but at the time, then-Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal said the VA would study them to determine whether they were sustainable.
The executive order contains a provision that calls for increased partnerships with the Defense Department to provide medical care for veterans at military treatment facilities and "military beneficiaries at VA facilities with appropriate reimbursement," and it also allows the VA to more easily fire employees for misconduct.
"This executive order builds on the progress we've made so far and puts us on a path to fixing some of the department's most vexing problems," Collins said.
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