SEASIDE – The Veterans Transition Center of Monterey County has been selected by the Department of Veterans Affairs “to develop safe, affordable housing for Veterans and their families with priority placement” at the site of the former VA Monterey Community Outpatient Clinic on land adjacent to CSU Monterey Bay.

“We’re elated – the VA’s Monterey Enhanced Use Lease Project will allow VTC to expand its capacity and serve more local veterans,” said Kurt Schake, Veterans Transition Center executive director. “With this property, VTC intends to reach ‘functional zero’ for homeless veterans in Monterey County. Between this property and Lightfighter Village, this federal goal can be attained.”

The VA development scope said the asset to be developed by the VTC — the former VA outpatient clinic — would be to renovate and reutilize the existing vacant 35,200-square-foot building on approximately five acres of land to provide supportive housing for veterans on a priority basis.

Lightfighter Village is the planned three-story, 71-unit housing structure at Hayes Circle in Marina near the VTC.


The former VA Monterey Community Outpatient Clinic in Seaside is slated to become veterans housing now that the VA has selected the Veterans Transition Center of Monterey County to be the developer. (James Herrera – Monterey Herald/Google maps)

“Our mission is ‘to empower Veterans to move from crisis to self-sufficiency.’ With this new site, we will be able to build more partnerships and heighten our services (housing, case management, counseling, treatments, etc.),” said Schake “We will meet the VA needs within the local community.

The VTC executive director said the property is included in the long-term lease of 50 to 75 years.

“The VA has discussed the possibility of building other structures on the site,” said Schake. “This will all be examined during the two-year hand-over process and will be subject to VA approval, local zoning, and available financing.”

The VA provided the VTC with the development plan requirements for the project before a lease is executed including a project overview, transaction terms, project financing, construction plan, project operations, and energy conservation and sustainable design.

Schake envisions the site’s use would include the first priority for the VA and the VTC, which is veteran housing, then veteran services such as counseling, employment and therapy among other possibilities.

There is a tremendous capacity for emergency, transitional and permanent housing of which the VTC has a successful and experienced background at its location in Marina, said Schake.

Dr. Lawrence Samuels, chief of staff for the office of the president of CSU Monterey Bay, said: “We are supportive of responsible veteran housing projects.”

But Samuels said there is concern about putting at-risk veterans in close proximity to CSUMB undergrad housing a little over 150 feet away. He said it would be “inappropriate to try to construct a large-scale recovering veterans housing project” so close to student housing.

Samuels said it is something that needs to be discussed and the university has already proposed a swap of “class-A housing units” in its east-campus housing, instead of starting down a path of all that is involved in building new housing stock in that location.

Schake said there is no provision to do a land swap or have the state get the property.

The university chief of staff said he and the VTC executive director have a good working relationship and will strive to have a win-win for everyone involved.

Samuels said that part of the philosophy of CSUMB is to require students to embed themselves in community organizations for service learning as part of their education and much of that manifests itself in the VTC or other organizations directly or obliquely serving the veteran community.


The former VA Monterey Community Outpatient Clinic, which is on its way to becoming veterans housing, has been sitting idle for about two years since the Major General Gourley VA-DoD Outpatient Clinic opened in Marina in 2017. (James Herrera – Monterey Herald)

“I think this is great. It’s been sitting here too long,” said Mike Mitchell, veteran and vice chair of the VTC board of directors.

Mitchell served at Fort Ord from 1971 to 1974 and was treated at the clinic during that time. Since 2017, veterans have had access to the Major General Gourley VA-DoD Outpatient Clinic in Marina.

The VA owns the land and asked for a request for qualifications to develop safe, affordable housing for veterans and their families with priority placement, and it chose the VTC of Monterey County as the preferred developer for the enhanced-use lease project at the former VA Monterey Community Outpatient Clinic in Seaside.

The old clinic and surrounding land, including what is now CSU Monterey Bay, was once part of Fort Ord Army base that was shuttered as a consequence of Base Realignment and Closure by the federal government in 1994.

A consortium applied for the project including the nonprofit Veterans Transition Center; Highlands Diversified Incorporated, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business; and Community Housing Opportunities Corporation, a nonprofit economic and community development organization.

“We plan to work closely with all local providers, especially CSUMB, as the property is adjacent to the campus,” said Schake. “We seek to build partnerships, so that this site can be a ‘center of excellence’ for Veteran services within Monterey County.”