Unhoused veterans in L.A. won a major legal victory Thursday when a judge rejected all of the federal government’s efforts to toss out a lawsuit that seeks to require Veterans Affairs officials to house veterans with disabilities.
The ruling will not immediately affect housing availability for L.A. veterans. But it clears a major legal hurdle for the judge to declare that the VA is required to house veterans in L.A. who need housing in order to access treatment for their disabilities.
That federal judge, David O. Carter, says he will now be moving the case forward quickly.
His new ruling significantly ramps up pressure on the federal government to house veterans in L.A., whether through a settlement deal, a possible injunction or trial next year.
“We’re the homeless [veterans] capital of the world right now,” Carter said near the conclusion of a hearing in downtown L.A. where he finalized his order. “So I don’t want to hear excuses about [how] we can’t afford it. We can’t afford what’s happening right now.”
His 41-page ruling found merit with veterans’ legal arguments against the VA, and sets the case in motion for a trial in the middle of next year. Carter pressed the government to try to work collaboratively with plaintiff’s attorneys to reach a settlement before then — and to possibly get Congress involved.
Toward the end of the hearing, Carter displayed a screenshot of an LAist article photo of VA Secretary Denis McDonough at the agency’s West LA campus. As he did so, the judge pressed federal officials to get McDonough involved with other Biden administration leaders to clear through barriers that prevent veterans from being housed.
“Does he have the attention of this administration?” Carter asked about McDonough. “Can he get HUD together in the same room as the EPA to stop this nonsense?” he added, referring to the federal housing and environmental agencies.
If all sides of the lawsuit work together, the judge said, “we can achieve a lot more” than if both sides fight each other in court.
Carter calls for 4,000 veterans to be housed at West L.A. campus
Carter also said he wants to see the VA’s West L.A. campus return to housing around the number of veterans who used to live there decades ago — about 4,000 – despite possible pushback from West L.A. homeowners.
That’s a significant increase. Current plans call for building enough housing there for 1,200 veterans by 2030. And even that plan is years behind its original schedule. The housing for 1,200 veterans resulted from a prior federal court settlement, with the ACLU.
That earlier settlement from 2015 was not court-enforceable, which the lead plaintiffs’ attorney in that case has said was a mistake.
So unhoused veterans sued again, resulting in the current lawsuit. In the current case, Carter said he wants to see strong court oversight of any settlement deals that result.
“This time you do need a consent decree, you do need accountability, you do need something to make sure this takes place,” he told both sides of the case on Thursday.
In July, LAist reported that more than two-thirds of the most recently remodeled apartments for veterans were sitting empty on the campus two-months after officials declared them move-in ready and assigned to veterans. Significant progress has been made since then, with 95% of the apartments occupied as of Nov. 22, according to data the VA provided to LAist at the time.
‘A historic decision’
Mark Rosenbaum, the lead attorney in the current case and for the ACLU one in 2015, called Thursday’s ruling “a historic decision.”
“It's the greatest victory on behalf of veterans in federal courts in the history of the country. And it's the beginning of the end of veteran homelessness in Los Angeles and throughout the country,” he told LAist as veterans celebrated the ruling outside the federal courthouse in downtown L.A.
One of those veterans was Joshua Erickson, who had a prosthetic limb below his left knee. He said he suffered the injury when he stepped on an IED bomb while serving in Afghanistan.
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Erickson said he’s unhoused and lives in a shed village on the VA campus. He said he doesn’t qualify for a subsidized apartment because his veteran disability benefit pushes him above income thresholds for that housing.
It’s a policy Carter criticized Tuesday as punishing veterans who have sacrificed greatly for their country, and one that the judge pushed federal officials to fix.
Thursday’s ruling “means a lot for me,” Erickson told LAist. An apartment would mean he could have a dog, his own bathroom and more space, he said.
“We're doing everything we can to fix the situation, and hopefully it can get resolved soon,” he added.
What’s next
Rosenbaum said the decision paves the way for the plaintiffs to win their argument if the case goes to trial. If that happens, he said, the VA would be required to house veterans in L.A. who need housing in order to access treatment for their disabilities.
“For the first time, a federal judge has said to veterans: You have the right to not be on the streets. You have a right to housing. You have a right to access services and permanent supportive housing to make that happen,” Rosenbaum said.
No changes to housing availability for veterans on the West L.A. VA campus will be required until a settlement is reached, or Carter issues an injunction, or the case goes to trial. But Carter said Thursday he plans to now move the case quickly, setting a Jan. 4 hearing to schedule a trial to start sometime between June and August.
The VA’s attorney at the hearing, Brad Rosenberg, told LAist he was unable to comment due to Justice Department policies. During the hearing, he argued that Carter got much of his analysis wrong in allowing the case to proceed to trial.
VA officials believe Carter’s ruling “does make some legal mistakes,” he said at the hearing. Rosenberg pointed to existing housing and treatment programs offered to veterans, and disputed Carter’s contentions about the VA’s legal duties to serve veterans at the West L.A. campus.
In contrast, attorneys for the unhoused veteran plaintiffs did not raise any objections to the ruling when Carter gave them the opportunity on Thursday.
Rosenbaumn told LAist that the plaintiffs hope their legal victory will prompt the Biden administration and Congress to “step up” and implement what the lawsuit seeks so that the court battle doesn’t have to continue.
“We're prepared for an early trial. But this case should not be in the courts,” he said.
There shouldn't be a veteran on the street, and it's up to Congress and the administration to step up.”
