Federal judge rules for homeless veterans suing VA

A federal judge ruled Friday in favor of a class of veterans who claimed that the Department of Veterans Affairs violated its mandate to end veteran homelessness when it leased land on its West Los Angeles campus to third-party developers.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter voids leases the VA holds with The Brentwood School, Safety Park, Bridgeland Resources and UCLA and directs the department to devote more campus land to veteran housing.

"[T]he West LA 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," Carter wrote. "After years of broken promises, corruption, and neglect, it is no surprise that veterans are unwilling to take them at their word."

The National Veterans Foundation and several individual veterans sued VA officials in 2022 claiming they had been neglecting their duty to provide housing for veterans by leasing land to private companies. Powers et al. v. McDonough et al., 2:22-cv08357 (C.D. Cal., filed Nov. 15, 2022).

Mark D. Rosenbaum of Public Counsel, who represented the plaintiffs, praised Carter's opinion in a news conference Friday.

"Judge Carter's ruling restores the 388 acres of land in West Los Angeles to its intended purpose when deeded to the government in 1888 to serve as a soldier's home, a soldier's community for all disabled veterans - not as a playground for UCLA baseball players and Brentwood High School students," he said.

Plaintiffs' co-counsel Roman M. Silberfeld of Robins Kaplan LLP in Los Angeles said enforcement of the order would likely fall to a court-appointed monitor, which Rosenbaum said would be a special master.

In a statement responding to Carter's opinion on Friday, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said, "While we do not comment on ongoing litigation, we at VA are carefully reviewing the court's decision and will continue to do everything in our power to end veteran homelessness - both in Los Angeles and across America.

"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," the statement continued. "VA is committed to providing permanent supportive housing to homeless Veterans on the grounds of the West LA 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."

The statement said veteran homelessness in Los Angeles has decreased 23% this year and 52% nationwide since 2010 and touted $175 million spent to upgrade the campus so far.

"VA has housed more homeless Veterans in LA than anywhere else in America in 2022, 2023, and we are on pace to do so again in 2024," the statement read. "The recent improvements in LA have been fueled by a significant increase in VA housing placements for Los Angeles Veterans. In calendar year 2023, VA placed 1,790 Veterans in permanent housing - a 38% increase from 2022, and the most of any city in America for the second year in a row. In fiscal year 2024, VA has already housed 1,605 Veterans additional Veterans in LA."

At Friday's news conference, Rosenberg took issue with the VA's response.

"This is no longer a question of imploring the VA to take care of the veterans who took care of this nation," he said. "This is an enforceable order, and if the response of the VA is going to be to issue press releases about what they claim is progress, then we're just going to have them back in court."

During the first week of the trial the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a co-defendant in the case, announced it will no longer count veterans' disability benefits as income when assessing their eligibility for housing assistance. That was in response to plaintiffs' assertions that income limits had contributed to veterans being denied housing at the West LA campus.

Before trial, Carter ruled that the VA's policy of contracting with developers who impose income limitations and count disability benefits as income breached the Rehabilitation Act.