From Shattered to Secure: Scott Mulvaney’s Journey from Homeless to Housed Through the VA

“If it weren’t for the VA, I’d be dead. I would not be alive.”

With an easy smile and kind eyes, Mulvaney speaks earnestly about his experiences. As a formerly unhoused Veteran, his journey with the VA led him from sleeping in his car to running the Heroes Golf Course, having a home on the West LA VA Campus, and helping countless other Veterans.

His story starts with a stint in the Marine Corps. Years later, undiagnosed PTSD and depression coupled with job loss led to two bouts with homelessness.

“It was like being frozen, I was really broken … in a way you become very fragile because you don’t know who you are at that point,” Mulvaney said. “All the anchors you held onto before, all the things that gave you meaning, and stability are gone.”

Now, he’s grateful to be thriving as the chief operating officer of the historic golf course and welcomes the opportunity to be an ambassador for the life-changing benefits of accessing care through VA.

Finding a Home with VA

Mulvaney’s personal journey with the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS) started in the Safe Parking Program, where Veterans who live in their cars can park securely in a West LA VA Medical Center parking lot with access to restrooms and running water. 

From there, he heard about the Heroes Golf Course* and enrolled in its “wellness to work” program, MISSION:VETS, which provides paid, on-the-job training to Veterans. Participants are educated in all aspects of golf course management and maintenance, leaving them with valuable skills. The course also helps Veterans through therapeutic programs and serves as a community hub.

Utilizing a diverse array of skills learned in his previous careers (including film production and education), Mulvaney initially worked at the course as a starter, greeting guests and helping them get onto the greens.

Ricardo Bandini Johnson, president of the Bandini Foundation, which runs the course via a revocable license with VA, recalls Scott’s early days. “He was so dependable, energetic, helpful, experienced in virtually anything and everything that we were doing. So, it was an enormous benefit for both sides and it has been the whole time.”

Mulvaney went on to help build the new clubhouse, two decks on site, set up the computer network and accomplish a wide range of other tasks. Eventually, he became the on-site chief operating officer tackling anything and everything the course needs.

After feeling some tightness in his chest while on the job, Mulvaney went to VA for a screening. Three blocked arteries led to a triple bypass surgery, which he attributes to saving his life.

The issues with Mulvaney’s heart, along with his other health concerns, meant he felt more comfortable living on the West LA VA Campus rather than being housed in the community. In 2022, he moved in to a subsidized apartment in Building 209 on the West LA Campus with help from  the Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program. HUD-VASH provides rental assistance and supportive services to qualifying Veterans. His new home is within walking distance of the golf course and was the first of several permanent supportive housing projects planned for the Campus. Three projects that will add 179 new housing units for Veterans experiencing homelessness will open in the next two months.

Healing Heroes Through Golf                  

The verdant, scenic golf course is an oasis of tranquility on the outskirts of the West LA VA Campus. Donated in 1888 by U.S. Senator John P. Jones and Arcadia Bandini de Baker, the sprawling acreage of the West LA VA Campus was originally used to house and rehabilitate Civil War Veterans.

Descendants of the donors head up the Bandini Foundation, which runs the 9-hole golf course as part of its historical mission to help Veterans. With a direct view of the Getty Center museum and a comfortable new clubhouse and decks (funded through a grant from the Annenberg Foundation), it’s a spot where Veterans and community members can feel at home.

The course offers free play, lessons and equipment to all Veterans, in addition to welcoming civilian members of the community for a fee. The course even hosts a weekly free food giveaway in partnership with the Westside Food Bank.

“It serves as a therapeutic little haven if you will. When you’re here you’re outside, you can hardly hear anything at all, there’s no traffic,” Johnson said. “What it does for the Veterans and for the public also is to give them a place where there’s no pressures whatsoever.”

From a 95-year-old WWII Veteran to students from local schools, golfers of all kinds utilize the 76-year-old space.

Paying it Forward for Vets

These days, Mulvaney is the one training his peers through the course’s MISSION:VETS program. It provides a bridge between military life and civilian life, helping Veterans adapt and thrive.

“Every single day that I’m at this place I have Veterans coming in who need some kind of guidance,” said Mulvaney.

Whether they just need someone to talk to or help accessing a specific service, someone at the golf course can help.

The course – and Mulvaney’s personal mission – is about much more than golf. It’s about healing and helping heroes find stability and a sense of belonging.

“Veterans are kind of all about helping your brothers and sisters,” said Mulvaney. “We’re about protecting, we’re about reaching out and making sure people are protected and helped. That’s kind of a Veteran creed.”

Army Veteran Olivier Thony works as a starter at the course five days a week. He sees it as a therapeutic place.

“You come to an area where it kind of forces you to be focused, and you get all this generosity and this understanding and this camaraderie from people that have all been there, done that,” said Thony. “So, from that point of view it’s kind of instrumental in the way of helping people with their mental issues and their head game.”

Working with Mulvaney is a “net positive,” he adds. “I get a lot of advice; I get a lot of material help from him just out of the kindness of his heart. That’s kind of how he treats all the Veterans here.”

The Future Is Bright

The Master Plan 2022 (MP), which is the framework for transforming the 388-acre West LA VA Campus into a community and home for Veterans, will bring many changes to the area. As the Campus evolves, Mulvaney and his team see the course’s offerings evolving as well.

There are plans to create a hydroponics gardening program for Veterans adjacent to the course, more physical fitness initiatives, more job training, and hopefully other innovative programs to help Veterans.  

As part of its historic mission the course continues to serve as a hub for the Veteran community – with Mulvaney’s competent, compassionate presence greeting those who pass through.

“I am actually making an impact every single day,” he said. “Not everybody can say that about their jobs.”

*Disclaimer: Mentions of programs for Veterans offered by organizations or persons outside of VA does not constitute an endorsement by VA.