Creative Commons/by predosimoes7

Along with the beautiful ocean view, hundreds of spectacular shops and care-free attitudes that epitomize laid back Southern California, the streets of Santa Monica are home to a large number of homeless people. You see them everywhere you go - in the parking structures, near businesses and certainly on 3rd St. Promenade, Santa Monica’s city center. Some hold signs asking for money, others walk the streets aimlessly and still many can be found looking through the various  waste baskets placed around the city, hungrily eating the remains of that red velvet cupcake you threw awake from the gourmet bakery up the street. You can see the street on their clothes, the smog in their hair and the dirt on their face. What you might not know is that many of them once served in the United States Armed Forces. Pick a sector - the navy, the army or the air force and you are sure to find one of them walking the streets of Los Angeles, because this sprawling city has the largest population of homeless veterans totaling 20,000 in the country, according to New Directions, an organization that offers comprehensive services to homeless vets, many of who suffer from mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder and are substance abusers.

Although there have been considerable efforts to reduce the homeless population in Santa Monica that have paid off, delays and negotiations have left three empty buildings that could provide long term therapeutic housing to homeless vets still, well, empty.

Buildings 205, 208 and 209 on the West Los Angeles Veterans Administration  (VA) campus were designated for this purpose on Aug. 21, 2007 by the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs yet the buildings remain idle while homeless vets continue to live on the streets and suffer from a slew of problems.

Although it has been two years since the initial proposal was granted, the VA is still in the negotiations stage with developers to transform Building 209 into homeless housing. In fact, it only just received a business development plan earlier this month. Buildings 205 and 208 aren’t even being considered at this point, since the VA wants to reach a conclusion with the developers before moving forward.

Creative Commons/ by kaprov the wrecked train

The question is simple: What is the hold up? With an ongoing war that is sending back troops who could be suffering from PTSD, abusing drugs and ending up on the streets, why are three buildings being used as merely decoration in L.A. when they could be used to save lives. With the largest homeless vet population, this city can’t afford any delays. These are initiatives that should never have to take this long. No matter how many negotiations are involved, by not expediting the process those involved in implementing these policies come off as careless, as being apathetic towards the people in this city who are in dire need of our help, these are the people who have served in wars to protect our freedoms - the least we can do is give them a warm, dry bed to sleep on at night.