In 1888, a 387-acre tract of land was donated to Los Angeles for the express purpose of being a veteran's home. Yet thousands of veterans sleep on LA's streets to this day, while many of the buildings on the property are either empty, damaged, abandoned,-----or used for commercial purposes. A full one third of the land----approxomately one hundred and thirty acres------is being rented out for commercial enterprises. The veterans remain unserved.
Yesterday lawyers filed suit on behalf of four mentally ill and homeless veterans against the Department of Veterans' Affairs for violating the terms of the agreement and leaving so many veterans homeless. With the winding down of both wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the number will only increase.
The property is located in a tony area of Los Angeles named Brentwood, notorious as the site where O.J.Simpson beat and stabbed his ex wife to death along with a young man who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. With all the yellow ribbons in this country, the VA's apparent fear of upsetting such a fine class of neighbors gives the lie to how we really feel about veterans.
For the first hundred years of existence---when Brentwood itself was just a nice neighborhood----the place did in fact offer services to veterans. By the Sixties and Seventies----times, you should note, of both greater need and yet also greater hostility to veterans-----fully one third of the property was abandoned, rented out, or used to turn a profit. What happened to that money from leasing has not been established, however, I think I can safely say it did not help veterans.
General Eric Shinsecki once vowed to end veteran homelessness by 2015. A few years ago, the numbers of homeless veterans reached 131,000. Today, supposedly, it's about 76,000. While one spokesman says that the rehabilitation of the campus could literally end homelessness in Los Angeles, it's obvious that it could make quite a dent in veteran homelessness in general. And why not do something with all these foreclosed homes that litter the country? Hire some therapists to work in each home, move the vets in, and help keep the neighborhood's property values up.
There's no need for idealism to not be practical and beneficial to all.
Maybe somebody should ask Bill O'Reilly if he still doesn't think there's any homeless veterans at all?