Menlo Park, CA VA Campus to Construct “Affordable” Housing for Homeless and At-Risk Veterans

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It makes sense to use some land already controlled by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to build apartments for use by veterans. And it seems to be a nice bit of cooperation among the VA, CORE Affordable Housing, and the City of Menlo Park. Housing costs in this area are among the highest in the U.S. The 60 units include studio and one-bedroom apartments, with rent ranging from $574 to $792. These rates would permit people to live close to their work; many people have to commute an hour or more to find rentals at these levels. Presumably homeless people do not have regular jobs, so they need help paying the rent, for which there are several federal programs, such as those from the Department of Veteran Affairs and private programs such as those from Volunteers of America. Truly homeless or at-risk people may also need help finding jobs or getting enough training or education to qualify for those jobs. But that is another story.