West Los Angeles Campus Under Scrutiny as a Court Challenges Allocation of Resources
A federal judge ruled in May that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) discriminates against homeless veterans whose disability compensation disqualifies them from housing being built on the VA’s West Los Angeles campus.
The decision came from U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who had previously determined that the VA is legally obliged to prioritize the 388-acre campus for housing and healthcare for disabled veterans, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. This ruling questioned the legality of leases that had allocated parts of the property for sports facilities, oil drilling, and parking lots.
The court, however, has not yet decided on potential remedies for the VA’s actions. This issue will be addressed in a non-jury trial starting Tuesday in a downtown Los Angeles federal court. The trial marks the culmination of over a decade of legal disputes and a history of grievances spanning half a century over the veterans’ land.
The veterans’ new attorneys, Public Counsel, the Inner City Law Center, and law firms Brown Goldstein & Levy LLP and Robins Kaplan LLP requested, via a legal brief, that Judge Carter order the VA to provide almost 4,000 units of permanent supportive housing on the campus, an increase of 2,740 units from the 1,215 units already planned or under construction as per a previous lawsuit settlement. The legal brief also requested the construction of 1,000 shelter beds.
The plaintiffs further asked the judge to prohibit the VA from partnering with developers whose funding restrictions exclude veterans with disability compensation. If approved, this order could have broader implications for VA housing projects nationwide that rely on third-party developers.
The brief requested that UCLA and the Brentwood School invalidate the leases they hold for athletic facilities and operations, including oil and parking, but it did not specifically ask that the leases be annulled or renegotiated with better terms.
The lawsuit stated, “The phrase ‘homeless veteran’ should be an American oxymoron. But this is the cruel truth—the federal government consistently refuses to keep its word and take meaningful actions to bring the abomination of veteran homelessness to an end.”
