VA TO SHED MANY UNUSED PROPERTIES
Getting rid of hundreds of buildings could save agency $ 7M a year
There’s a vacant golf clubhouse in Salem, Va., a smoking shelter in Battle Creek, Mich., and even an old trolley house in West Los Angeles.
The buildings are among 430 across the nation — many dating to the 1800s and listed on the National Register of Historic Places — owned by the Department of Veterans Affairs and no longer in use.
The VA is trying to get rid of them, a move that could save the agency as much as $ 7 million a year but could mean some of the buildings face an uncertain future. The VA is aggressively trying to reuse the facilities, sell them or demolish them altogether.
The list of buildings, obtained by the USA TODAY Network, shows the VA owns hundreds of housing facilities, old theaters, golf clubhouses and other peculiar buildings.
In June, the VA announced it had started getting rid of 71 of the buildings and would start on 71 more in the next six months.
The VA did not provide details about the 142 facilities the department is working quickly to demolish or reuse, but spokeswoman Gina Jackson said the first 71 include facilities in Maryland and Pittsburgh.
Over the next two years, VA Secretary David Shulkin said, the department will rid itself of the remaining 288, which he said would save $ 7 million a year. Jackson said that time frame is “aggressive” and would expedite a process that for some of the facilities has been stagnant for years.
The facilities are among 430 across the country the VA considers underused or outright vacant and among 1,100 that Shulkin is considering shut- tering to save costs.
“We owe it to the American taxpayer to apply as much of our funding as possible to helping veterans,” Shulkin said. “Maintaining vacant buildings, including close to 100 from the Revolutionary War and Civil War, makes no sense, and we’re working as quickly as possible to get them out of our inventory.”
The VA is one of three areas within the federal government that was allocated an overall budget increase by the Trump administration. The total budget proposal laid out for VA by the Trump administration is about $ 186.5 billion.
Most of the money Trump proposed is targeted at continuing the Veterans Choice program, which allows veterans to access health care through private providers. The budget proposal includes $ 600 million dedicated to reducing the numbers of homeless veterans.
The VA’s list of buildings also raises questions of how the VA comes into possession of such facilities and what might become of the places that have historical significance.
Jackson said the properties came to the VA over several decades when agencies such as the War Department were shuttered and their assets shifted to other federal organizations.
“Where appropriate, VA has used and has attempted to reuse these assets in support of veterans as well as partnered with the community and other federal, state and local agencies for usage of these assets,” Jackson said.
Whatever the VA decides to do with the old facilities, Jackson said, the department will use “due diligence” to make sure the facilities on the National Register are protected and other usable facilities are repurposed, if possible. But many will end up demolished. “Depending on the disposal or reuse action, the specific due diligence required will vary, but all actions would require some due diligence,” Jackson said. “VA is currently conducting this analysis with all the vacant buildings to understand the costs and benefits available with each possible approach and what level of due diligence is appropriate for each asset.”