Judge orders more housing for military veterans on West LA campus

LOS ANGELES - In a hard-hitting, sometimes-shocking ruling that blasts the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for "turning its back" on the disabled veterans it was designed to help, a federal judge Friday ordered additional housing for veterans on the agency's West Los Angeles campus.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter also determined that the department has been illegally leasing portions of the campus to a private school, UCLA's baseball team, an oil company, and other private interests.

In the 125-page ruling, Carter wrote that the "cost of the VA's inaction is veterans' lives."

The judge's findings were issued Friday following trial of a lawsuit lodged in Los Angeles federal court against the VA by a group of unhoused veterans with disabilities, challenging land lease agreements and seeking housing on the campus for veterans in need, some of whom are homeless or must travel for hours to see their doctors.

Over the past five decades, Carter wrote, the VA in West L.A. "has been infected by bribery, corruption, and the influence of the powerful and their lobbyists, and enabled by a major educational institution in excluding veterans' input about their own lands."

Carter found that the VA "has allowed the drastic reduction of the size of the original plot of land deeded in 1888 to be an Old Soldiers' Home. In a series of lengthy, renewable leases, the VA authorized leaseholders to build permanent athletic facilities — after permitting these concrete structures to be built on veterans' land."

The judge ruled that for years the VA has "quietly sold off" land badly needed for injured military veterans.

VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in a statement to City News Service that the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation and is reviewing the judge's decision.

The VA "will continue to do everything in our power to end veteran homelessness — both in Los Angeles and across America," Hayes said. "No veteran should be homeless in this country they swore to defend, and we will not rest until veteran homelessness is a thing of the past."

He added, "VA is committed to providing permanent supportive housing to homeless veterans on the grounds of the West L.A. campus as quickly as possible. We will stop at nothing to end veteran homelessness, including through ensuring that critical funding and resources get into the hands of those who need it most. VA will continue to take every action and make every investment available to us to meet this critical goal."

During trial, the VA argued that it is out of space on its 388-acre campus, and that the lack of available acreage precludes any increase to the 1,200 housing units the agency promised to open by 2030. VA attorneys alleged that any relief ordered by the court would burden the department financially and deprive it of the flexibility needed to solve veteran homelessness.

"The problem, however, is one of the VA's own making," Carter wrote, adding that VA land in West L.A. must "once again be available for its intended purpose: the housing of veterans."

In a previous order, Carter determined that the VA had discriminated against "the most injured and traumatized veterans" by counting their disability payments as income and thus disqualifying them from housing on the campus.

"Now, the West L.A. VA promises they finally have a plan that will end veteran homelessness in Los Angeles — but only if the plaintiffs leave them alone and the court does not issue an injunction," the judge wrote. "After years of broken promises, corruption, and neglect, it is no surprise that veterans are unwilling to take them at their word."

Ultimately, the court found that veterans are entitled to more than 2,500 units of housing at the campus "and termination of the illegal land-use agreements."

It was not immediately clear what would become of the outside organizations' leases on the campus, including UCLA's Jackie Robinson baseball stadium and the affluent Brentwood School's athletic complex.

A UCLA representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A message left with a Brentwood School representative was also not immediately answered.

According to Carter, roughly 3,000 homeless veterans live in the Los Angeles area alone — and each administration since 2011 has been warned — by the VA's own Office of the Inspector General, federal courts, and veterans themselves — that the department was not doing enough to house them.

The judge's order Friday orders the VA to build 750 units of temporary housing within 12 to 18 months and to form a plan within six months to add another 1,800 units of permanent housing to the roughly 1,200 units already in planning and construction under the settlement terms of an earlier lawsuit.

The West L.A. campus remains the chief health care facility for veterans in Southern California. The VA's Veterans Health Administration is required to provide preventive and primary care, acute hospital care, mental health services, specialty care, and long-term care, which includes residential treatment and housing services, the judge wrote.

Many of the lawsuit's plaintiffs — particularly those military veterans with traumatic brain injuries and serious mental illness — find it difficult to travel to the campus.

For example, according to the ruling, plaintiff Laurieann Wright, who lives with PTSD related to sexual assault she experienced during her military service, currently lives in VA-affiliated housing in Lancaster, about 65 miles away from the campus. Wright must commute up to three hours to access the West L.A. VA medical facilities.

"In addition to her PTSD, Ms. Wright has extensive physical disabilities and medical conditions including: osteoporosis, a neck injury she sustained after being thrown down the stairs while living on the sidewalk outside the VA," Carter said.