Ceremonies are being staged across the country today in honor of our war veterans — men and women who gave up their comfortable lives in the U.S. to fight for freedom around the world.
We are forever indebted to their sacrifices. But our appreciation is not enough — especially considering there are tens of thousands of vets sleeping on the streets every night in Los Angeles County.
Many of them suffer from physical and mental challenges, and a result, many are chemically dependent on drugs and alcohol.
It’s most likely not the life they envisioned when our government told them to go off to war and it would take care of them when they returned. Instead, our government has ignored our vets, turned its back on them. That’s certainly the case at the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration property, where the majority of the land and facilities sit empty.
One local politician — Bobby Shriver — is trying to answer the needs of our down-and-out vets. Shriver is calling for the VA campus to be redeveloped into a long-term therapeutic supportive housing facility for American servicemen and women who are without shelter.
The project would accommodate as many as 300 to 500 chronically homeless veterans, as well as those with other needs, such as those dealing with mental illness or are suffering from substance abuse. The new housing would give veterans access to the many successful rehabilitative programs the VA already has in place on the West LA campus, Shriver said.
We couldn’t agree more when Shriver said, “In the lobby of the West LA VA hospital, a sign reads, ‘The cost of war is visible here.’ The cost of war is also visible on our city streets.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 11, 2005. Read the original PDF.