LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By James Zeruk Bewildered veteran
The article concerning idealistic solutions to Santa Monica’s homeless veteran population (SMDP, May 25, page 1) by Councilman Bobby Shriver, Mayor Pam O’Connor and other City Hall staff proves how short-sighted and ignorant our city leaders truly are about the homeless problem in general. This public service trinity of wisdom would like to see the campus of the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center used as a “service enriched” emergency shelter for the homeless veterans in and around Santa Monica. The article quotes Shriver as saying, “It will turn into a good thing, as long as we keep the focus on homeless veterans.” Sorry, councilman, but as my friends in Alcoholics Anonymous fondly say, “You can’t keep what you haven’t got!”
If you had any focus on homeless veterans in this city and the west side of LA in general, you would know that there already is, in fact, a “service enriched” emergency shelter for vets — it’s called the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration — duh!
Also in the article there is mention of Mayor O’Connor’s City Hall letter to the VA suggesting that our local officials’ “knowledge of the issue” would help in a partnership to turn the VA campus into a facility that meets the housing, social service, health and mental health needs of homeless veterans in Santa Monica and its environs. Again, I must refer to the Alcoholics Anonymous dictionary of profound wit concerning the claim of our local officials’ knowledge of the issue — “Your best thinking got you here!”
If our trusted and elected officials truly had knowledge of this issue, they would never lay claim to this less-than-thought-out idea about a homeless veteran program... because it’s already there on the VA grounds — double duh! All of the above-mentioned needs and services have been offered to veterans at the West LA VA for years. What’s wrong with you people? God — and I’m the one sleeping outside... jeez.
These services for veterans can be obtained in several ways, and almost every homeless vet in this area knows about them from personal experience or by word-of-mouth. The starting point is at the VA’s Comprehensive Homeless Veterans Program, located at building number 206, north of Wilshire Blvd. After a vet checks in, he or she is screened for verification of military service, benefit eligibility status — AKA “per diems” — and medical priority. Within a few hours, the veteran will have seen a nurse and a social worker to help evaluate and determine the best course of action and/or treatment. More often than not, because many homeless veterans have a substance abuse history that dovetails their housing dilemma, the VA’s on-campus alcohol and drug rehab programs are recommended. These programs run independently of each other and are supervised by the administration to ensure such things as health standards and patient rights.
These programs at the VA include the Salvation Army’s Haven One, in building No. 212; the R.T.C. unit in building No. 214; the Domiciliary — known affectionately as “Club Fed,” which is located in both buildings No. 214 and No. 217; and the most difficult, but most successful — and nationally known — New Directions, a long term boot-camp-strict facility located in the beautifully restored building No. 116.
There are hundreds of beds for vets among all these programs, and while most of the time they are at or near full capacity, a veteran will usually get in a program within a few days at most. In the event a vet must wait for a bed, he or she is normally housed on the third-floor unit of the Salvation Army Haven Two temporary shelter, or at the New Directions detox unit in building No. 116. There is also another Salvation Army transitional shelter in building No. 207, where veterans can stay for as long as two weeks or so while waiting for a bed at one of the programs. They also offer permanent board and care placement at this facility.
As for veterans whose homelessness is not poly-substance related but is instead symptomatic of a service or non-service connected disability such as physical trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or just plain old age, they can get referred to the Domiciliary or to the “Old Soldiers” convalescent unit in building No. 213. They may also get a referral to another VA in any other part of the country should specialized care be required.
Now, except for the convalescent unit — for obvious reasons — the other programs I mentioned offer the homeless vet more than just “three hots and a cot.” Each of these above programs help the veteran with vocational job training and placement, assistance with military and VA pensions or disability payments, housing referrals, legal and paralegal representation, medical appointments including psychiatric and psychological attention, social living skills training, educational advancement, and so on.
Now, what bewilders me almost beyond belief is why none of this info I’ve just mentioned ever came to light in the Daily Press article! Can it possibly be that while the VA has been offering these homeless veteran services for years at the West L.A. VA campus, our very own local officials remain in the dark about them? Naw... no way, not with all Councilman Bobby Shriver’s focus, and our local officials’ knowledge of the issue, right? How is it that a stinkin’ good for nothin’ bum like me knows more about this issue than our city leaders who are elected and trusted to research and review such important matters? Something stinks in all this and it ain’t me ‘cause I just had a shower. But there is a kind of stink that no amount of soap and water can wash away — the stink of political hypocrisy.
Shriver, our mayor and other city staff publicly claim to have “focus” and “knowledge” of the homeless veteran issue — I’ve just proved publicly that they are liars, or at the very least, incompetent. In either case it’s hypocrisy, which means, “hide behind a mask,” which is what people do when they withhold truth or pretend to be privy to truth. The reality is that Shriver and company have no focus on the homeless veteran issue, and very little — if any — knowledge about the issue.
LETTERS, from page 4 Do you know what this looks like to me? I’ll tell ya’ what this looks to me — to me this looks like a carefully woven scheme of political manipulation — that’s what this looks like to me.
It is my contention that Councilman Shriver and Co. are trying to get their political foot in the door of the VA campus and that the best way to accomplish this is to voice their “focused” concern for Santa Monica’s homeless veterans, then offer up “ideas” and “solutions” and “partnerships.” I contend that their end game, if you will, is to rid this city of it’s homeless problem, not because of an altruistic sense of civic duty, but because they thirst for the intoxicant of most every politician — a seat to higher office.
If they were to accomplish their dream of a successful Santa Monica/VA homeless veteran program (read: “partnership”) they would have a nice little bullet on their resume with which to gain carte blanche at the VA and then establish a regional center for the homeless general public of Santa Monica. And as everyone knows, bullets on a politician’s resume mean more votes and more coins in the campaign coffers.
I think that Shriver and company need to employ the expertise from experts who have firsthand experience of the homeless issue — those who have lived it.
Sometimes the answers don’t come from think tank suits, PhDs, environmental impact studies or popularity votes. Sometimes success means thinking “outside the box” — in this case a cardboard box. Puns aside, many agencies have hired “outside the box” in order to stem society’s ills. Who else but a master safe cracker could design a more secure vault?
The point I’m trying to make is that a large part of the VA’s various homeless programs’ success is due to the fact that they are mainly controlled and operated by formerly homeless veterans. Unlike myself, many of these vets — some of whom were fellow patients of mine at one time or another — reached in and pulled out that old fashion military bearing and discipline in order to better themselves. That is why Alcoholics Anonymous is also so successful — it’s run by the same kind of people it aims to help.
What this city needs is a staff or liaison — call it any darn thing you want — of formerly homeless individuals with some political juice — not just a voice. Otherwise, all we’re really going to have with Shriver at the front of the homeless issue is a guy who ran for public office not because of his focus of the homeless, but because of his embittered battle with City Hall over the height of his hedges.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 7, 2005. Read the original PDF.