On Veterans Day, Florida's Veterans Agency Asks Lawmakers for Millions More to Staff and Repair State Nursing Homes

The Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs is asking the Legislature for tens of millions of dollars in additional funding for the coming budget year to staff and repair the state-run nursing homes that care for aging veterans, according to the agency's legislative budget request reported by the Florida Phoenix on Veterans Day.

The largest specific asks include nearly $16.6 million for emergency repairs and maintenance across the department's nine residential facilities and $6.6 million to make sure the homes provide required levels of nursing care. The agency says its residents are older, frailer and more medically complex than in the past, while staff turnover and shortages persist.

What the agency is requesting

Florida agencies submitted their legislative budget requests in October. The requests are not appropriations; they are the starting point lawmakers use when they write the next state budget during the 2027 session, and they will also inform Gov.-elect Byron Donalds when he submits his first budget recommendations next year.

According to the Phoenix, the department's request includes:

• Nearly $16.6 million for emergency repairs and maintenance at its nine locations, which range in age from five to 37 years.
• $6.6 million to ensure the nursing homes provide required levels of care.
• Additional money for more staff in several areas, including services to veterans and the direct care of nursing home residents.

"With the approval of this funding, the department will have sufficient budget authority to operate all facilities and fulfill its obligations in a timely manner and to ensure proper supplies are available for the veterans who reside in the State Veterans Nursing Homes," the request states.

Sicker residents, harder staffing

The request describes a changing population inside the homes. "The composition of residents requiring nursing home care has dramatically changed to reflect increasing clinical acuity, fragility and behavioral needs," the agency wrote.

Higher acuity generally means residents need more hands-on nursing time, more skilled staff and more supplies per bed. The request also points to continuing "staff turnover" and ongoing shortages, problems that have dogged the homes for years.

Staffing at the state veterans homes has been a recurring concern in Tallahassee. In 2022, lawmakers approved $5.6 million in salary and recruitment incentives for veterans home nurses, according to a Florida Senate budget summary. A state Auditor General audit released in early 2023 examined staffing and time and attendance records at the homes. More recently, the department filed a status report in March 2026 on corrective actions taken in response to a separate Auditor General review of nursing home and domiciliary operations, including retraining staff on maintaining a prioritized admissions waitlist.

Buildings that need major work

On the facilities side, the department says deferred maintenance has caught up with it. Over the past decade, the request says, available money has "not been sufficient to fully address the department's accumulated maintenance, repair and infrastructure needs."

The COVID-19 pandemic made the gap worse. The agency said it had to direct resources to salaries and staffing needs during the pandemic, resulting "in capital improvements receiving less attention from 2020 to 2024."

"The State Veterans Homes have reached a point where extensive capital improvements are required," the request states.

The system by the numbers

The department, led by executive director James "Hammer" Hartsell, a retired Marine Corps major general appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and confirmed by the Cabinet in 2021, operates eight skilled nursing homes and one assisted living facility. Together they have roughly 1,100 beds.

The department's nine residential facilities, as listed in its annual reports, are spread across the state:

One of the newest nursing homes, the Ardie R. Copas home in Port St. Lucie, opened in 2022 at a cost of about $62 million after years of planning, and it was slow to fill its beds at first because of hiring difficulties, according to local news coverage at the time. That experience illustrates the department's central problem: a licensed bed does little good without the nurses and aides to staff it.

The agency's overall budget is nearly $241 million under this year's General Appropriations Act, the Phoenix reported, funded by a blend of state and federal money.

Against that budget, the two largest new asks, about $23.2 million combined, would amount to nearly a 10% increase before counting any of the additional staffing requests.

Why it matters for Florida's veterans

Florida is home to about 1.4 million military veterans. With about 1,100 beds statewide, the state homes serve only a small fraction of veterans who may eventually need long-term care, which makes keeping every licensed bed staffed and in service a priority for the department.

The system is also growing. Collier County broke ground on July 10, 2026, on a new 120-bed state veterans nursing home on part of the former Golden Gate Golf Course in Naples, a project years in the making that depends on both state and federal construction money. A new home brings its own staffing needs, adding pressure on a workforce the department already says is stretched.

The request arrives as Floridians mark Veterans Day with ceremonies across the state, including events honoring local inductees into the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame.

What's next

Legislative committees will begin reviewing agency requests as lawmakers return to Tallahassee for organization and interim committee weeks ahead of the 2027 regular session. Donalds, who takes office in January, will release his own budget recommendations before the session, and those may accept, trim or reject the department's asks.

The final numbers will not be known until the Legislature passes a budget in the spring and the new governor acts on it, including any line-item vetoes. Until then, the department's request serves as its formal case that the homes need more nurses and major repairs to keep serving Florida's veterans.