California veterans home eyed for closure in Gov. Newsom’s proposed budget cuts

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to close a $54 billion state budget deficit includes one small but difficult cut for an under-used state veterans home in the Mojave Desert.

Now, residents and workers at the Barstow Veterans Home are rallying to prevent the facility from being eliminated in the state budget. They have some help from state lawmakers, who in a committee have already asked Newsom to find an alternative spending cut.

California has eight veterans homes that collectively have about 2,400 beds for aging former military service members. The original one was built in Yountville in 1884. Barstow, the second, followed in 1996.

The veterans homes provide several levels of care, from domicile care, which is effectively independent living, to assisted living with a skilled nursing facility.

Newsom praised them during a press conference on Friday, where he noted the state has prevented coronavirus outbreaks at the homes even as the virus spread at nursing homes in other communities.

“On Memorial Day, we take time to recognize and remember the service members who died fighting for our freedom,” Newsom said in a written statement on Saturday. “We also honor the veterans who are still with us. CalVet has worked around the clock to put into practice the best science and prevention measures to save as many lives as possible in veterans homes, which can be high-risk settings. ”

Earlier this year, the state Department of Veterans Affairs published a master plan for the homes. It looked ahead to how California should manage them as its veteran population declines over time and as veterans seek different services for mental health and homelessness.

Because of Barstow’s relative remoteness, the report said the site struggles to generate demand for all but its skilled nursing facility, and it is difficult to recruit employees.

“The Barstow Home is simply not located in an area that allows it to best serve the veteran community,” the report said.

‘I know this is alarming’

Newsom’s new budget proposal called for the closure of the 220-bed, 22-acre facility by July 2022.

The cut would save $400,000 in the 2020-21 budget year, and $14 million a in long-term general fund savings, according to Newsom’s budget. However, closing the facility would also cost the state $3 million in annual U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs funding that goes to the site.

In a May 14 letter to Barstow Home residents and staff, Secretary Vito Imbasciani of the California Department of Veterans Affairs wrote, “I know this is alarming for the staff, the veterans and their families who call Barstow Home. In my time at CalVet, this is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, and one of the most difficult letters I’ve ever had to write.”

Imbasciani pledged to work to re-house every one of the Barstow residents at one of CalVet’s seven other veterans homes, and also to help staff find jobs either elsewhere in CalVet or in other state departments.

Imbasciani’s letter was met with a Change.org petition seeking to keep the facility open, with more than 15,000 signatures by Wednesday afternoon.

A Facebook group, “Save the Barstow Veterans Home,” also was launched, with a “rolling rally” in support of keeping it open planned for Memorial Day.

Jamie Rodriguez was among those who signed the petition. Both Rodriguez and her husband work at the Barstow Veterans Home; she’s been there 12 years and he’s been there 20.

“It’s a devastating thing to hear,” Rodriguez said of her reaction after reading the letter from Imbasciani.

She said that the news hit residents of the home particularly hard.

“They’re stressed out. They’re afraid. They’re afraid they’re not going to have enough money to live somewhere else,” she said. “A lot of families have called, they’re really worried.”

Master plan finds problems

The Barstow location has numerous serious problems, according to the CalVet 2020 master plan.

Many of its beds are empty. The facility was built for up to 400 beds, but is budgeted only for 220. Out of those, only 175 are currently occupied, according to CalVet special adviser Deborah Hoffman.

California built six veterans homes after Barstow, placing them in Chula Vista, Fresno, Lancaster, Los Angeles, Redding and Ventura.

By contrast, “the Barstow Veterans Home is not in an appropriate location. The Barstow Home was constructed with the intent of expanding services to veterans in Southern California. However, the home’s placement in the high desert region hampers its operations and limits demand for care,” according to the master plan document.

The master plan states that while the Barstow Veterans Home is located within San Bernardino County, the fifth-largest community of veterans in the state, “there is no significant veteran community within 50 miles of the Barstow Home.”

‘Completely erroneous’

Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, disagrees with that finding, calling it “completely erroneous.”

The vice chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, whose district includes Barstow, said that the facility was originally opened because of its proximity to the Barstow Marine Corps Logistics Base, the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base, the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, and Edwards Air Force Base.

“There’s a large and robust veteran population in that area that depends on the Barstow Veterans Home,” Obernolte said.

Obernolte called it “unconscionable” that Newsom’s budget cuts would include veterans, many of whom are extremely vulnerable. He said Newsom’s cut would force the older vets to choose between living near their families in Barstow or living in an unfamiliar city far away.

CalVet’s Hoffman said that the cuts can be avoided if the federal government passes funding to help California make up for its budget shortfall.

“The Newsom administration will continue to fight like hell for that funding,” Hoffman said.

On Thursday, a Senate budget subcommittee rejected Newsom’s recommendation. That decision makes it unlikely that closing the Barstow home will appear in the final budget agreement lawmakers vote on in June.

In an analysis of the proposal, Senate staff recommended that the governor develop a closure plan to present to lawmakers next year.

“While a fiscal crisis like the one we are currently facing due to the coronavirus should not be taken lightly, staff believes that a closure of a veterans home should not be rushed, and a thoughtful approach, while working closely with legislative and community stakeholder partners, can help ensure that no harm occurs to the veteran residents,” the report reads.