About a year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to restore capacity to house up to 6,000 homeless veterans at the VA’s West Los Angeles campus by 2028, advocates and some lawmakers say the administration has disclosed few details and that the latest budget request does not fund any new beds there.
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ West Los Angeles campus has expanded veteran housing over the past decade and now has more than 1,200 open units, according to an NPR report.
One resident, Vincent Tourville, told NPR he joined the Army in 2008 and deployed to Iraq in 2009. He said he went from sleeping on the beach and in his car to entering a VA safe-parking program and then moving through several housing programs on the campus, which he credited with helping stabilize his life through access to health care, therapy and assistance with benefits.
Tourville also described persistent problems on the campus, including open drug use and poor living conditions. In an interview with NPR, he said he has found roaches in his child’s crib and complained of disruptions such as frequent fire alarms.
Advocate Rob Reynolds, who has worked with homeless veterans at the campus for several years, told NPR that some of the newer apartments are “really beautiful,” but said the broader community needs more amenities, services and housing to succeed.
Reynolds and others have also criticized what they describe as an information blackout after the executive order, saying VA officials and advocates were required to sign nondisclosure agreements that limited public discussion of the plan.
At a House hearing referenced in the NPR report, lawmakers from both parties criticized the nondisclosure agreements. A senior adviser to the VA secretary, Danielle Runyan, said the department has been “embattled in litigation” connected to the land.
The same NPR report said Runyan did not explain why the administration’s budget request would fund no new beds on the West Los Angeles campus this year, and NPR reported that the VA did not respond to a request for clarification by airtime. During the hearing, Rep. Mark Takano, a California Democrat, warned that concentrating veterans on the property without adequate supportive services could jeopardize safety, sobriety and mental health.
Trump’s executive order, signed in May 2025, directs the VA to designate a “National Center for Warrior Independence” at the West Los Angeles campus and to restore capacity to house up to 6,000 homeless veterans by Jan. 1, 2028, according to the White House order.
