Dozens of homeless veterans will have a new place to lay their heads as the Veterans Administration has opened two new buildings containing 120 housing units on its West Los Angeles campus.
The structures, known as Buildings 205 and 208, contain fully-furnished units and include access to amenities like a gym, laundry room and computer room.
At a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough was joined by Mayor Karen Bass, U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu and City Councilmember Traci Park in celebrating the achievement.
Not everyone is thrilled, however, as the VA was supposed create at least 1,200 new units of housing as the result of a 2018 lawsuit settlement.
McDonough told KTLA that this is “an important next step,” but not the finish line.
He also highlighted that in last year’s Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — or more simply, the PACT Act — the VA received $250 million “to fund this work.”
“Nobody is saying that we’re done,” he said. “I think all of us have felt frustration going back to the earliest days of this. We’re moving with dispatch.”