LA County Board

7. Cross Departmental Coordination and Centralization in Los Angeles\nCounty’s Veteran Initiatives, Programming, and Policies\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisors Barger and Horvath: Instruct the\nDirector of Military and Veterans Affairs to be the lead on behalf of the County\non any local, County, or State initiatives and efforts that require coordination or\ncollaboration with either the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet)\nand/or the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and take a lead\nrole in coordinating on behalf of the County with CalVet and/or the VA, working\nwith the requisite County Departments, to implement any veteran specific,\nveteran targeting, or pilots and initiatives with overlap on veterans policy, and\nwith all relevant Departments to assume a collaborative role pertaining to any\npilots and initiatives with CalVet and/or the VA; and take the following actions:\nInstruct the Directors of Military and Veterans Affairs and Mental Health\nto develop a plan in coordination with the Chief Executive Office Budget\nto transfer the Southern California Grantmakers (SCG) contract for Los\nAngeles County Veteran Peer Access Network (VPAN) peer-to-peer\ncontracted services and the Veteran Service Navigator program from the\nDepartment of Mental Health (DMH) to the Department of Military and\nVeterans Affairs (DMVA), no later than October 1, 2024, where the\ntransfer of SCG contract does not include DMH budgeted items, with\nsupport from the Chief Executive Officer, and the Director of Military and\nVeterans Affairs, to identify a plan for ongoing funding of SCG and\npeer-to-peer contracted services if Mental Health Services Act (MHSA)\nfunding is reduced as a result of Proposition (Prop) 1; the Director of\nMilitary and Veterans Affairs shall provide outcomes and other required\ndata to DMH for any MHSA funding received as required by MHSA\nreporting requirements or new requirements as a result of Prop 1; the\nDirector of Mental Health shall have responsibility for, and continue to\nprovide oversight of veterans mental health services provided through\ndirectly-operated or legal entity staff:\nThe Directors of Mental and Military and Veterans Affairs\nshould report back on integrating the 1-877-4LA-VETS\nDMVA call line into the 1-800-854-7771*3 VPAN Support\nLine and consider the following:\nDMH and DMVA shall integrate staff from both\nDepartments onto the Veterans Service Triage Line\nto centralize all calls related to veterans benefits and\nservices;\nDMVA shall explore including VA Greater Los\nAngeles’ (GLA) Homelessness Call Center\n(310-268-3350), incorporating Federally-funded\nresources, including access to VA supported\nemergency housing units;\nDMVA and DMH shall work to continually explore and\nincorporate other County Departments’ veteran,\nmilitary, and family/caregiver programming onto the\nline with the intention of the public being able to get\naccess to all relevant services through the one call\nline;\nInstruct the Executive Director of the Homeless Initiative, Chief Executive\nOffice, and the Director of Military and Veterans Affairs, to advance the\nwork started through the County’s Homelessness Emergency Declaration\nto create a veteran-specific plan to increase access to services and\nbenefits for veterans experiencing homelessness, in partnership with\nCalVet and/or the VA, or any other State or Federal agency, to leverage\nState and Federal funding and resources for veterans experiencing\nhomelessness and report back to the Board in writing in 90 days; and\ntake the following actions:\nPursue equitable and increased access for minority veterans,\nfemale veterans, and any other underserved or unserved veteran\npopulations;\nExplore opportunities for partnerships with cities, councils of\ngovernments, and other local jurisdictions to increase access to\nveteran services and benefits;\nExplore creation of a master leasing pilot in partnership with the\nVA to rapidly house veterans experiencing homeless, with the\ninitial pilot being in the Antelope Valley with intent to scale these\nefforts County-wide;\nWork with the Department of Health Services, in collaboration with\nthe California Policy Lab, to develop a mechanism to identify\nveterans who are at-risk of losing housing and refer to the\nrequisite resources as identified by the Executive Director of the\nHomeless Initiative, Chief Executive Office, and the Director of\nMilitary and Veterans Affairs;\nEngage the VA Greater Los Angeles for potential access to their\ncontract with Single Stop that provides online screening and\nguidance to improve access to a range of Federal and State\nresources; and\nProvide recommendations of necessary collaborations to better\ncoordinate the efforts of the Los Angeles Homeless Service\nAuthority’s veterans systems coordinators and the Los Angeles\nCounty Development Authority’s United States Housing and Urban\nDevelopment Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing programs with\nthe County’s efforts;\nInstruct the Director of Military and Veterans Affairs, to identify all\nbenefits, services, programming, or initiatives for veterans, service\nmembers, and their families currently offered by County Departments;\nand draft a plan with recommendations to streamline all County funded or\noperated veteran-specific benefits, services, programming, and initiatives\nto centralize and coordinate to create a centralized point within the\nCounty for veterans, and report back to the Board in writing in 90 days;\nInstruct the Director of Public Health, in coordination with the Director of\nMilitary and Veteran Affairs, to add veteran status as a social\ndeterminant, and require Departments to collect veteran status as a\nrequired field in screenings and electronic health records as follows:\nDMVA shall provide guidance on culturally-competent wording to\nall Departments;\nInstruct all County Department Heads to add the question “Have\nyou ever served in the U.S. military?” as a mandatory field in all\nscreening and intake documents; and\nAny veteran identified by a County agency shall be liaised with\nDMVA for further screening and triaging for other veterans\nservices and benefits if the veteran agrees to the referral and\nlinkage; and\nDirect the Chief Executive Officer, through the Legislative Affairs and\nIntergovernmental Relations Branch, in collaboration with the Director of\nMilitary and Veterans Affairs, to review the necessary legislative changes\nand priorities for the County to advance and advocate for policies at the\nState and Federal levels; and provide recommended County legislative\npriorities to allow the County to streamline the housing of veterans\nexperiencing homelessness and receive the services necessary to stay\nhoused and to address veteran suicides. (24-1870)