A master plan adopted in 2016 seeks to bring at least 1,200 units of permanent supportive housing to northern section of the West Los Angeles VA Campus, which sits immediately west of the I-405 Freeway along Wilshire Boulevard. A new project seeks to bring new services for the unhoused along the southern section of the campus.
According to a notice released by the Los Angeles Department of Health Services, a permanent shelter facility is being planned at the southwest corner of the south campus - a site which is currently occupied by the West Los Angeles Armory Building. The building, completed in 1964, was used for a decade as a winter shelter with 160 mixed-gender beds.
The proposed permanent shelter, planned directly south of the 1960s building, is imagined as a three-story structure featuring 167 beds. A rendering depicts a modern low-rise building, which would incorporate a client's intake area, separate dormitories for men and women, a dining area, a library, outdoor patios, and recreation facilities. Plans also call for a dog run at the exterior.
The new shelter facility would be accompanied by the construction of a new parking garage to the east of the 1960s building, replacing spaces which would be lost to the new shelter building.
Work on the project is set to occur over a 16-month period, beginning sometime in 2023.
- Sawtelle (Urbanize LA)