VA shrinks – Five months after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs promised up to 800 new temporary housing units on its West Los Angeles campus by this fall, the agency is now seeking bids to build fewer than a third of that number—at a higher standard for the structu
On the VA’s West Los Angeles campus, the plan has started to move again—just not in the amount people were first told to expect.
Five months after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs promised up to 800 units of new temporary housing on its West Los Angeles campus by this fall. the agency is now calling for bids to build fewer than a third of that number. with a delivery date seven months later. The updated request for proposals, issued last month, seeks a minimum of 220 units with an option for 40 more. If a contract is awarded at the end of August. the VA says the work would need to be completed by next April.
The VA is framing the change as an improvement in what gets built, even as the quantity shrinks. The project is the first concrete step in President Trump’s May 2025 executive order to create a National Center for Warrior Independence in West Los Angeles. But the new timeline and reduced unit count still leave open the question of how accommodations for 6. 000 veterans can be completed by Jan. 1, 2028, as required by the order.
In January, during a federal court hearing, the VA unveiled a plan to install 800 tiny homes on the campus. Advocates criticized the proposed structures as cramped. flimsy and undignified—8-foot-by-8-foot sheds—built for people who have often already endured years without stable housing. The new proposal is different in design and space: units would be larger. ranging from 160 to 226 square feet each. and each would include a bathroom and kitchenette with a refrigerator. microwave and sink.
Bidding is limited to firms owned by disabled veterans. The solicitation does not specify a cost. Instead, it says the winner will be chosen based on value, balancing price and technical quality.
VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a press release announcing the project that the Trump administration is restoring the focus of the West L.A. VA Medical Center that he said was lost decades ago when the historical home for disabled veterans was closed. “Step by step. we are moving toward the president’s vision of a campus that provides housing. treatment and training for thousands of formerly homeless Veterans. offering crucial support on their journey back to self-sufficiency. ” Collins said.
The new units and a separate building for intake and services are to be built on a five-acre. tree-studded field known as the Great Lawn at the intersection of Wilshire and San Vicente boulevards. The development would sit adjacent to 135 tiny homes that have been installed in phases beginning during the COVID pandemic. which were used to take in veterans who had camped on San Vicente.
The changes come as the VA continues fighting in court over the campus’s long, contested future. The agency has appealed a federal court order requiring it to provide about 2. 500 new units of temporary and permanent housing on the campus. In a January status report. the VA said it intends to move ahead with housing regardless. writing that it plans to construct temporary supportive housing on the grounds in quantities consistent with what the court ordered at trial—amounting to 750 to 800 temporary housing units by the end of September.
When asked questions about the revised plan. VA press secretary Quinn Slaven said the scope of the executive order has not been reduced. In an email. Slaven said. “VA is in the process of fully implementing the NCWI executive order. which goes far beyond the scope of the court order and requires construction of thousands of additional housing units on campus.” Slaven also said the VA is “building up crucial infrastructure required to handle an increased veteran population.” The email said the VA has made specialized homeless care teams available to all veterans on the campus. provided case management to help veterans obtain housing subsidies. and increased safety measures. but it provided no further detail.
Still, federal budgets and court timelines have made the stakes feel immediate. The VA’s 2027 budget proposal sought $500 million for eight projects. including a parking structure and rehabilitation of six existing buildings. but no funds for new housing. When the VA announced its initial tiny home plan in January. it said funds would come from a 2025 appropriation but did not specify the amount.
Veterans and advocates broadly welcomed new housing, but skepticism has hovered over how the initiative was shaped. They pointed to the fact that it was planned in secret and offered no opportunity for review by its beneficiaries. Everyone involved in the planning is required to sign a nondisclosure agreement. and the action plan drafted last September was not publicly released until the eve of a congressional hearing on Trump’s order.
Rob Reynolds. an Iraq war veteran and advocate for other veterans seeking housing and services on the campus. said he has heard positive reactions to the upgrade from the tiny homes and to the welcome center where residents could meet with doctors and clinicians. But Reynolds said many veterans are trying to understand what the new structures will mean in practice. including whether they will replace existing units or operate alongside them.
“Are these units going to replace those old tiny homes, or is the plan to have two separate programs? Will I get stuck in a smaller unit when someone else gets a larger one?” Reynolds said.
He also said veterans want to know whether there will be space for sober living. Reynolds said the tiny homes follow a “harm reduction” model that does not require sobriety. “I think the harm reduction model helps us get a lot more people off the street. but veterans who want to be sober should have a place where they can stay sober. ” Reynolds said.
Even with the design changes. it remains unclear how the initiative will align with a broader. decades-long legal fight over the future of the 388-acre campus. The property was donated to the U.S. government in the 19th century as a home for disabled soldiers. Quarters that once housed thousands of veterans were closed in the 1970s as the VA’s mission shifted toward medical care after World War II.
Veterans twice sued in federal court demanding the VA restore housing on the campus. In the latest case, U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter ordered the VA to build 2. 500 units in addition to the 1. 200 the agency agreed to build to settle the earlier case. The VA says its plan is consistent in scope with the order. but advocates and experts have focused on how the housing would be arranged.
During a series of hearings. witnesses called as development experts pored over maps of the campus to identify several parcels to spread the housing into separate villages. Jonathan Sherin. the former director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health who testified as an expert. said concentrating all the units next to the existing tiny homes risked creating a “shanty.” While praising the VA for reserving the contract for businesses owned by disabled veterans. Sherin said the plan lacks what he considers the most important ingredient: spaces for community.
“They need to have places to socialize properly,” Sherin said. The way to do that. he said. is to build the core of a community first and then place housing around it. “I don’t really see that,” Sherin said. “Where’s the coffee shop?. Where’s the place for veterans to hang out?. … Where is the market?. Where are the jobs?”.
Anthony Allman, executive director of the nonprofit Vets Advocacy, created to monitor the earlier lawsuit, said he sees value in concentrating the units to facilitate services. But he questioned whether the VA has the capacity to provide those services, even for the housing already planned.
“Everyone’s hyper focused on the number of units,” Allman said. “I think we’re missing the more important question: What is our ability to provide support? Do we have the human capital in place? I don’t have the answer.”
For now. the VA’s latest procurement signals a shift in priorities on paper—bigger units. a smaller count. and a later completion window. Yet on the ground. veterans are still waiting for the practical answers that determine whether a campus plan becomes a home. or just another set of beds measured only by square footage and schedules.
Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles National Center for Warrior Independence temporary housing tiny homes Doug Collins court order David O. Carter Wilshire San Vicente harm reduction Rob Reynolds Vets Advocacy