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VA Hospital Assailed on Care for Homeless Vets

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Times Staff Writer

The Veterans Administration Medical Center in Westwood is not moving fast enough to expand its care and housing for homeless veterans despite the fact that more than new 30 beds for that purpose have remained empty for two months, an advocacy group for the homeless charged Thursday.

Acknowledging a “communications breakdown” with homeless veterans, VA officials have begun to rewrite admission standards, but insisted that beds had stayed empty because veterans either had not sought them or were ineligible.

Toni Reinis, co-director of the nonprofit California Homeless Coalition, said the problem at the VA center reflects a “lack of commitment to the estimated 20,000 homeless veterans walking the streets of Los Angeles.”

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Sen. Alan Cranston, in a strongly worded letter sent May 3 to VA Medical Center Director William K. Anderson, agreed. Cranston said he was “concerned that a lack of effective communication and working relationships between the VA and Los Angeles-area homeless advocacy groups may have a played a role in these beds not being filled.”

In the letter, Cranston also requested an immediate survey of vacant buildings at the medical center that could be used to provide care for homeless veterans with little or no income.

Reinis said that the 101-year-old medical center, which provides medical and psychological treatment for veterans, must accelerate its efforts to improve outreach programs and clarify admission criteria.

“There are veterans groups all over the county that have no knowledge of the existence of these beds or how to access them,” Reinis said.

Betsy Hardie, chief of domiciliary operations at the medical center, which currently has 298 beds in service for homeless veterans, accepted blame for the “communications breakdown.”

“We at the Veterans Administration have to provide more and better communications with the community,” Hardie said. As for the empty beds, however, Hardie argued: “We must recognize that there are veterans out there who do not wish all the services we provide . . . others are ineligible for reasons ranging from dishonorable discharge to bad conduct.”

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