Federal housing officials approve the provision community sought; Department of Veterans Affairs asked to formalize guarantee in Sepulveda VA lease LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The developers of Homes for Heroes, a housing development proposed for the Sepulveda Veterans Administration complex in Los Angeles, announced today that they will guarantee that only veterans will be permitted to rent apartments. A Community of Friends (ACOF) and New Directions, Inc. (NDI) plan to convert two vacant, earthquake-damaged buildings at the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills into 147 studio apartments for homeless and disabled veterans. The nonprofit organizations received a written determination from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) permitting the apartments to be rented only to veterans. ACOF and NDI immediately asked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to write the "veterans only" guarantee into their lease. "Our goal is to provide housing for homeless and disabled veterans on veterans' land and we're pleased HUD said we can lease only to veterans," said ACOF Chief Executive Officer Dora Leong Gallo. "HUD's approval of the veterans-only provision is a significant victory for veterans in Los Angeles County, neighbors of the Sepulveda VA property and similar projects across the United States." Veterans, neighbors and elected officials called for the "veterans only" guarantee at Homes for Heroes. ACOF and NDI worked with legislators to secure a change in California law, and with national organizations and Congressional representatives to amend the Internal Revenue Service code to allow public funding to be used for veterans only projects. "It has been clear to us from the beginning that changes were needed to ensure a veterans-only provision that would be acceptable to lenders and to fair housing advocates," NDI Executive Director Toni Reinis. "We are thrilled to tell concerned members of the community that we heard their requests and we have worked hard to guarantee that the housing will be strictly for veterans only."
