Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) this week sent a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie in support of the VA’s proposal to enter into a 75-year lease for the development of supportive housing on the West Los Angeles VA Campus.

            The lease would grant rights of development for 23 projects consisting of approximately 1,453 housing units across the campus.

            “This project is critical to Los Angeles area veterans, and for me, it is personal. For more than a decade, I have made it one of my primary focuses in the Senate to ensure the campus lives up to its original intent to serve veterans. For decades, the West LAV A campus was used to benefit private industry, rather than the men and women who served our nation. That's why I authored the "West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016", which mandated that all activities on campus principally benefit veterans. The EUL to develop supportive housing for homeless veterans on campus clearly meets this threshold,” wrote Feinstein.

            Full text of the letter is available here and below.

July 29, 2020

The Honorable Robert Wilkie

Secretary

Department of Veterans Affairs

810 Vermont Ave. NW

Washington D.C., 20420

Dear Secretary Wilkie:

            I write to offer my strong support for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ proposal to enter into an Enhance-Use Lease (EUL) that would facilitate the development of more than 900 housing units for homeless veterans on the West Los Angeles VA campus. 

            This project is critical to Los Angeles area veterans, and for me, it is personal.  For more than a decade, I have made it one of my primary focuses in the Senate to ensure the campus lives up to its original intent to serve veterans.  For decades, the West LA VA campus was used to benefit private industry, rather than the men and women who served our nation.  That’s why I authored the “West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016”, which mandated that all activities on campus principally benefit veterans.  The EUL to develop supportive housing for homeless veterans on campus clearly meets this threshold.

            The partnership between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors will result in the largest veteran housing development in the nation.  I remain fully committed to supporting the effort in Congress, and stand ready to do my part to make sure that these housing units can be delivered without delay.  I also look forward to working closely with the West LA Veterans Collective to ensure these units can be delivered quickly.

Sincerely,

Dianne Feinstein

United States Senator