LOS ANGELES — Instead of a picture of her family or pets, Paula Boutte’s desktop wallpaper is a picture of a random Skid Row street with a blue billboard advertising a hotline.

“This is my baby,” she said, pointing with the cursor to the hotline. “I’m very proud of it — proud of the work that all we do at the VA.”

Boutte has worked as section chief for transitional housing for Homeless Veterans at the West Los Angeles VA for the last four years. During her time there, she said she noticed a gap in information.

“A lot of calls were routed to my extension. So, I was fielding the calls myself and it gets to be a little overwhelming. And I’m like, so apparently, veterans and community partners really don’t know how to get the assistance that they need. Why not set up a hotline?”

She approached LA VA Deputy Medical Center Director John Kuhn, who agreed, and in December 2022 they launched a hotline exclusively dedicated to helping homeless veterans navigate transitional housing. The hotline 310-268-3350 is open Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Their goal is to find a bed for every homeless veteran that calls asking for shelter within a three-hour window. Dan Smee, a veteran and social worker liaison, works at the call center a few times a month.

“A lot of times these veterans have complicated issues, and it’s really difficult following up, finding the appropriate program for them, and then getting them to that program,” Smee said.

Despite the challenges, Boutte said they’ve had a 90% success rate.

“Since December we have gotten 419 calls. We have placed 119 veterans,” she said. “But the other calls come in for information needs, or [other] communities or veteran needs, and so we route those calls to the appropriate entities.”

There are about 3,500 homeless veterans in LA County, according to the latest point in time homeless count. The hotline number is being advertised on billboards and bus benches across the region.

“I want the world to know that it’s available, I want our veterans to know that it’s available,” Boutte said.

Her hope is that the hotline will go national, providing immediate housing placements to homeless veterans everywhere.

“My dad was a Marine, so I was raised around the military. I married into the Navy. I’m also a veteran widow. So, currently this is my way of serving,” Boutte said.