Judge finds illegal discrimination blocks some disabled veterans from housing at West LA VA campus

Unhoused veterans have won new legal victories in their effort to increase housing at the federal government's sprawling West L.A. Veterans Affairs campus.

A judge ruled Sunday that VA officials engage in illegal housing discrimination by disqualifying veterans who were the most injured in their military service. Those veterans have lost out on shelter because their disability stipends from the VA often make their income level too high to receive housing help, under rules for the funding used to build the housing.

And the judge ruled that the government has a legal duty to use the land to benefit veterans under the terms of the 1888 gift of the West L.A. property to the government.

That could affect numerous existing leases, including for a private school renting 22 acres on the VA campus for its athletic facilities.

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“Defendants have a duty to use the West LA VA Grounds for the establishment, construction, and permanent maintenance (and operation) of housing and healthcare for veterans with disabilities,” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled.

Carter said he would decide at a later date what changes will have to be made. A trial on these and other issues in the case is scheduled to start on Aug. 6.

VA representatives told LAist they don’t comment on ongoing lawsuits, but that the administration is “committed to ending Veteran homelessness and prioritizing this effort at the highest levels.”

About 3,400 veterans were unhoused across L.A. County as of the latest official count conducted in January. Currently, the campus offers 233 permanent housing units for unhoused veterans and 559 transitional and emergency shelter beds, according to VA officials.

[Click here to read the ruling.]

The response

Mark Rosenbaum, the lead attorney for unhoused veterans in the case, told LAist the ruling has major national implications for veterans with serious disabilities from their service.

“This affects every permanent supportive housing [unit] across the United States,” he said

According to Rosenbaum, the ruling means veterans with the highest disability ratings from their service will be able to get into permanent supportive housing at the VA campus and in the community.

As for existing leases at the VA campus that primarily benefit people who aren’t veterans — such as the Brentwood School athletic facility and UCLA baseball stadium — Rosenbaum said the ruling means they’re illegal.

“You might as well light a match to them,” he said.

Media representatives for the Brentwood School and UCLA didn’t immediately return phone and email requests for comment.

The background

The ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by unhoused veterans who say the VA is years behind schedule on a 2015 settlement agreement to build 1,200 units of housing on the campus. VA officials say they’re working as fast as possible to build the units by 2030.

The judge has pressed VA officials to house many more veterans on the campus. He’s told the VA’s lawyers that he wants to see a return to housing around 4,000 veterans there — almost as many as the peak, in the 1950s.

More apartments expected at campus by October

In preparation for coverage of Carter’s ruling, LAist reached out to the VA’s L.A.-area press office to ask for an update on efforts to create housing on and off the campus.

No new housing has opened on the West L.A. campus since 120 units opened in May last year, officials said. But they said construction is underway on six permanent supportive housing buildings for veterans at the campus.

Among them, 146 units are scheduled to open by October, and hundreds of additional homes for veterans have opened in other parts of the L.A. area over the past year, according to written answers from local VA officials that were provided by Darryl A. Joseph, a spokesperson for the VA’s Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

[Click here to read VA officials’ full response.]

VA says housing not affected by developer’s financial troubles

The developer of the most recent housing expansion at the VA campus was Shangri-La Industries. Since a ribbon-cutting for those units last spring, the company has been the subject of high-profile controversies.

Its recent work on other homeless housing developments has become the subject of a fraud lawsuit by the state attorney general and embezzlement accusations by the company’s leadership against its chief financial officer. Two months ago, Shangri-La filed for bankruptcy, which a judge later rejected.

VA officials said the issues have not affected the VA’s housing efforts. The VA recently removed Shangri-La, at the company’s request, from the lease for three existing housing developments at the VA campus, according to the VA’s written answers. It is not involved in any current or future housing projects at the campus, the answers added.

“Through this process there was no disruption to Veteran tenants and supportive services provided to Veterans continued as normal,” VA officials wrote.