LITTLE ROCK — All 70 men who were residents of the Little Rock Veterans Home in June, when the home’s closing was announced, have found new places to live.
The last resident will transfer to another VA-supported nursing home by Nov. 1. By the end of this week only three men will remain at the facility.
“I cannot give enough kudos to the workers over there for the way they’ve taken care of these guys,” said Cissy Rucker, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs.
Rucker announced in June her intention to close the home on Charles Bussey Avenue in south-central Little Rock after discovery that the home had been in financial trouble for years.
Rucker took over the agency in May after state officials learned that the veterans department had collected about $600,000 in illegal fees from the home’s most disabled war veterans to help cover costs. All of those fees were returned to residents or their families as of last month.
Additionally, the home was found to be in such disrepair from years of neglect that it would take an estimated $10 million to bring it up to current building codes.
“You put everything together and you realize we simply cannot afford this anymore,” Rucker said in June.
At the time of the closing announcement, Rucker said the home would remain open as long as needed for all the residents to find VAapproved nursing homes or assisted-living facilities of their choosing. The process went faster than expected.
The more than 70 employees at the home began to leave in June, but manyremained. The state implemented a reduction in force for the employees last month, allowing expedited hiring by other state agencies.
For those remaining employees, termination letters will hit Oct. 27. A few employees will remain on a little longer to care for the last resident expected to leave by Nov. 1 and finish inventorying and emptying the home. Most supplies and equipment are being shipped for use at the Fayetteville Veterans Home.
The future of the dilapidated building, Rucker said, remains unknown.
The property was deeded to the state in 1978 from the Arkansas School for the Deaf, which had used the building as a school for decades before consolidating campuses for the blind and deaf schools at the Markham Street location.
But it falls to the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs to dispose of the property, said Anne Laidlaw, director of the Arkansas Building Authority. The building was specifically dedicated for use as a veterans home in state law shortly after the quitclaim deed was filed.
Rucker told the Arkansas Veterans Commission earlier this month that outside groups had expressed some interest in buying the property.
When the home closes next month, the state Veterans Affairs Department will be responsible for getting an appraisal and legal descriptionof the property as well as environmental disclaimer for any asbestos or lead, which will be included in a packet justifying the sale of the property.
Laidlaw said her agency facilitates the sale of the property by requesting governor approval, ensuring no other state entity wants it and administering the sale itself.
“They have to do the formal homework and submit the initial documents to [the Arkansas Building Authority],” Laidlaw said. “But we’ll conduct the process for them.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 12 on 10/17/2012