Congress Demands Answers on Alameda VA Clinic Cancellation
The VA scrapped a $395 million outpatient clinic and columbarium at Alameda Point last August. Now a new spending bill forces the agency to explain why.
By The Alameda Pulse
Nearly three decades after Alameda first offered up land at the old Naval Air Station for a veterans clinic, the project is dead, and Washington still doesn't have a straight answer why. The Department of Veterans Affairs cancelled its planned outpatient clinic and columbarium at Alameda Point in August 2025 after more than $395 million in federal funding had already been approved for it.
Now three members of Congress who represent the Bay Area, Kevin Mullin, Nancy Pelosi and Lateefah Simon, have gotten language into the next VA spending bill that forces the agency to explain itself.
What Was Supposed to Get Built
The project would have put a full outpatient clinic and a multiphase columbarium, a structure for storing the ashes of veterans, on VA-owned land at Alameda Point. It had been in the works in some form for close to 30 years, with more than 10 years in formal planning. Then, without warning, the VA pulled the plug.
What the New Bill Requires
The Fiscal Year 2027 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill passed the House on May 15 with report language ordering the VA to submit a report within 60 days of the bill becoming law. That report has to spell out how much money was already spent, how much is left, and why the agency cancelled the project in the first place.
"VA's cancellation of the Alameda Point Project is unacceptable for veterans in our region who deserve quality health care," Rep. Simon said in a statement announcing the push. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla are carrying the same language.
Why This Matters for Alameda
Alameda Point has spent years trying to redevelop old Navy land into something that serves the city, from housing to open space to the Spirits Alley business district. A federally funded veterans clinic was supposed to be part of that transformation, and it would have meant Bay Area veterans no longer had to drive to Oakland or further for care. Right now, nobody, including the city of Alameda, has a clear explanation for why that went away.
A companion VA project in San Francisco, the Building 40 renovation at the SF VA Medical Center, was cancelled in the same round of cuts and is covered under the same reporting requirement.
For now, the fight is procedural: get the VA to answer for the decision before anyone can push to revive the project or find another path forward for the site.
