Greater LA VA Houses 1,790 Veterans in 2023, the Most of Any City in the U.S.

The second highest total was VA Northern California Health Care System, which placed 1,087 Veterans in housing. 

One of the Veterans who was housed in L.A. in 2023 was Marine Corps Veteran Al Landfair, a former resident at Care, Treatment and Rehabilitative Services (CTRS), a first-of-its-kind emergency shelter program at West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, where roughly 140 homeless Veterans live in individual, climate-controlled shelters.

A former barracks guard and mortarman who served with the most highly decorated battalion in the Marine Corps (2nd Battalion 5th Marines), Landfair became a professional truck driver after leaving the military. When a diagnosis of end-stage non-alcoholic fatty liver disease forced him into retirement, he fell on hard times.

After coming to Los Angeles where he had family nearby, Landfair lived at CTRS for several months as he worked with VA to access housing. In December 2023, he signed a lease on a two-bedroom apartment of his own in Inglewood, Calif. 

“The people at VA are here to help you and guide you with all of the resources that you need,” said Landfair. “I’m so excited that I get to be independent again.”

A Home for Every Veteran

Housing Landfair and other heroes like him has been a primary focus for VAGLAHS. Recent numbers show that Veteran homelessness nationwide increased by 7.4% since 2022 due in large part to a lack of affordable housing and end to COVID-era eviction protections.  Despite these challenges, significant progress has still been made towards ending Veteran homelessness. Since 2010, the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States has declined by more than 52%.

“Making this goal means that the lives of 1,790 Veterans have been profoundly changed,” said VAGLAHS Deputy Medical Center Director John Kuhn. “In addition to the Veterans lifted out of the trauma and degradation of homelessness, Veterans’ partners and children who may have been part of that household also now have homes.”

Exceeding this goal has not come easily, said Kuhn, adding that Los Angeles is one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets and has a woefully inadequate supply of affordable housing.

“Many unhoused Veterans have significant health and mental health issues and contend with discrimination and other challenges to secure housing,” said Kuhn. “But steadfast VA and federal leadership have provided the resources necessary to address these challenges. With this continued support, and the dedication of VA staff and community partners, we will succeed in helping all unhoused Veterans find a place to call home.”

VAGLAHS also exceeded its two other goals related to Veteran homelessness: maintaining a housing retention rate above 90% and engaging with at least 1,888 unsheltered Veterans. The 2023 housing retention rate was 97.5%, and VAGLAHS engaged with 2,184 unsheltered Veterans. 

Working as “One Team”

Leadership attributes much of the year’s success to the “One Team” effort, a pioneering initiative created by Kuhn in 2023 with the goal of seamlessly integrating VA and its community partners to get Veterans into housing as quickly as possible. 

In June, VAGLAHS brought representatives from partner organizations and front-line workers together in person to inaugurate One Team. The results were “electric,” in the words of Sally R. Hammitt, chief of VAGLAHS’ Community Engagement and Reintegration Service (CERS), with participants eager to bring their talents to the table in the fight to end Veteran homelessness. 

Since then, VA and its partners have worked to implement enhanced tracking, streamline care plans, have more frequent case conferencing and improve bridging between programs, among other endeavors. This collaborative effort has reduced duplicated service and allowed the team to serve more Veterans, said Hammitt.

“I am inspired by the passion and devotion of our VA team and our trusted community partners,” said Hammitt. “As One Team, we are committed to place Veterans in the center of our work. I am excited for every Veteran who is now housed and grateful for all the Veterans who trusted us on their housing journey.”

How Property Owners Can Help

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program is what houses formerly homeless Veterans by combining federal housing vouchers with VA case management and supportive services. There are 8,453 HUD-VASH housing vouchers available for Veterans throughout the greater Los Angeles community, with 5,282, or 62% currently in use. In 2024, 17 new buildings are slated to open which would add an additional 627 units.

At the West LA VA Medical Center, which is undergoing a transformation to become a first-of-its-kind supportive community of and for Veterans, 233 units of permanent supportive housing are currently leased to Veterans with a HUD-VASH voucher or are in the process of being leased, with at least 967 more units planned to be built on site.

For Landfair, who is in the process of looking for a liver donor, a two-bedroom apartment was considered a reasonable accommodation so he could have a live-in caregiver to help with his recovery. 

“After I received my HUD-VASH voucher, the next morning my peer support, Gary Steward, called me and asked me if I’d like to go look at an apartment,” said Landfair. “I said sure!” Landfair liked the unit and went on to sign a lease.

For property owners in the community, VA offers a wide variety of incentives for housing Veterans including timely, guaranteed rental payments, a two month rental incentive for new leases, and direct case management support from VA for Veteran tenants. For some property owners, the greatest incentive is knowing they are providing a home for those who have served to protect our freedoms.

Property Manager Brian Rush helped house several Veterans at Grand Central Market Apartments in downtown Los Angeles. He praised the HUD-VASH team and offered words of advice for other housing providers who may be thinking about opening their properties to Veterans in need. 

“It’s a great benefit,” he said. “To me it’s not just about the incentives, it’s the fact that you have a team from VA that wants to help you and work with you.” 

Helping people is why he got into property management, Rush said, and HUD-VASH allows him to do that. “Helping Veterans … they’re very understanding and very grateful. I enjoy doing it.”

Exceeding Goals and Housing Heroes 

Nationally, VA housed more than 46,000 Veterans in 2023, engaged with over 40,000 homeless Veterans, ensured that 95.9% of Veterans remained in housing, and worked to rehouse 96.4% of Veterans who returned to homelessness.

“No Veteran should ever experience the tragedy and indignity of homelessness. More than 46,000 formerly homeless Veterans are going to sleep tonight in good, safe, stable homes — and there’s nothing more important than that,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “While this is an important step forward, we’re not stopping here — we’re going to keep pushing until every Veteran has a safe, stable place to call home in this country they fought to defend.”

Landfair has nothing but positive things to say about the services he’s received through VA, and advises other Veterans to take advantage of what they’ve earned.

“I’ve had a great experience,” said Landfair of the HUD-VASH program. “I did my service and they’re paying me back and I just love all of them for that.”