Underused VA facilities turned into parks, profit centers for others

Millions of square feet of real estate owned by the Department of Veterans Affairs are going unused by the agency, and it has bungled attempts to turn excess space into revenue, with even a laundromat, for example, operating for years on old VA property without paying rent.

Groups have been using and building on VA properties for years with no lease, and in some cases the department doesn’t know who is occupying the space. In other cases when it did know, it has failed to collect rent. At least one tenant turned around and subcontracted the space to others without VA’s knowledge.