'That's Our Land': Homeless Veterans in LA Hail Court Ruling Ordering VA to Use Campus for Housing

In this May 30, 2019, file photo, a homeless man walks along a street lined with trash in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

Posted: September 19, 2024 --- Military.com | By Richard Sisk

Published September 18, 2024, at 5:48pm ET

For years, homeless veterans in Los Angeles complained that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had plenty of room for oil wells, parking lots, a baseball stadium, athletic fields and swimming pools, but none for them on the spacious grounds of the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center (West LA VAMC). "It's craziness," former Army Specialist (E4) Rob Reynolds, 35, of Westfield, Massachusetts, who served in Iraq with the 10^th Mountain Division, said the leases doled out by the VA that gobbled up much of the 388 acres of prime California real estate at the West LA site.

A federal district judge now seems to agree, following a class-action lawsuit by veterans. A court ruling aims to void those leases and make way for vet homeless housing. Reynolds, who once lived in the cluster of tents on the sidewalk along the VA fence line known as "Veterans Row," became an advocate for returning the deeded land to its original purpose as a "National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers." In a phone call, he said, "That's our land."

Against the longest of odds, Reynolds began recruiting homeless veterans for the class-action suit seeking to void all of the leases on the grounds of the West LA VAMC and force the VA to build enough housing to take in all of the estimated 3,000 homeless veterans in LA. Former Army Sergeant (E5) Josh Petitt, 41, originally from Whittier, California, who served with the 2^nd Infantry Division in Iraq, said that he immediately signed up when Reynolds asked whether he wanted to join the suit: "Hell yeah, I want to be on it. I shouldn't have to fight the VA for my health."

Navy veteran Jeffrey Powers, 62, from San Jose, California, who was forced out of the military in 1980 for being gay, was eager to become a plaintiff to the suit. He said that none of the leases for land on the West LA VAMC campus were "designed for the benefit of veterans." The class-action suit naming VA Secretary Denis McDonough, then-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge and former Los Angeles Housing Authority President Douglas Guthrie as defendants was filed in November 2022 by the nonprofit Public Counsel law firm on behalf of 14 unhoused and disabled veterans who had experienced post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.

After a 16-day, non-jury trial, U.S. District Judge David Carter on September 6^th handed down his decision that was described by Mark Rosenbaum, Public Counsel's senior special counsel for strategic litigation, as an "across-the-board victory" for the veterans. In his 124-page ruling, Carter voided the leases for Bridgeland Resources LLC oil facilities; UCLA's Jackie Robinson baseball stadium and practice field; Safety Park's parking lots; and the Brentwood School District's athletic fields and swimming pool.

All of those leases granted by the VA were in violation of the West Los Angeles Leasing Act in that they gave no benefit to veterans and their families, Carter said, adding that, by his estimate, Bridgeland made "over 6 million dollars per year from the drill site." Carter ordered the construction of 1,800 units of permanent housing for disabled veterans on or near the West LA VAMC, in addition to the 1,200 units the VA has promised to put up by 2030, and the construction of 750 temporary units on the West LA grounds within 18 months.

In his strongly worded ruling, Judge Carter dismissed the arguments of the VA's lawyers that "they are out of space and that the lack of available acreage precludes any increase to the 1,200 units they have promised to open on the West LA campus by 2030." "They contend that any injunctive relief by the court would burden the VA financially and deprive them of the flexibility they need to solve the complex issue of veteran homelessness.  The problem, however, is one of the VA's own making," said Carter, who was nominated to the bench by former President Bill Clinton.

"Now, the 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. After years of broken promises, corruption and neglect, it is no surprise that veterans are unwilling to take them at their word," Judge Carter said. Veterans have grown tired of hearing the excuses of their government for delays and neglect when it comes to receiving the benefits they've earned, said the 80-year-old Judge Carter, a Marine veteran of Vietnam who was severely wounded in the 1968 siege of the Khe Sanh firebase.

"Veterans have seen the government swiftly deploy its resources to send them into conflict, then claim an inability to overcome funding shortfalls and administrative hurdles when they need shelter and housing back at home," Judge Carter said. "The court finds plaintiffs are entitled to injunctive relief in the form of additional housing at the grounds and termination of the illegal land-use agreements," Carter said. The VA's land in West LA must "once again be available for its intended purpose: the housing of veterans," Carter said.

Carter went on at length on the "intended purpose" of the land, which consisted of about 600 acres and was deeded to the government as a gift in 1888 for the sole purpose of serving as a "soldier's home" for disabled veterans. In 1909, President William Howard Taft visited the site, Carter said and hailed it as a place where veterans "may rest a time and enjoy their remaining days at the hand of a grateful country." The judge cited the testimony at trial of 51-year-old Army veteran Joseph Fields as an example of the VA's neglect that left unhoused veterans outside the gates of the West LA VAMC at risk of being rousted by the authorities and denied access to their health care benefits. 

"It seemed like we'd fall into this cycle of, you know, going to jail, getting out of jail, going to the sidewalk, going back to jail, going to a VA program, getting kicked out, going back to the block, going back to jail, going back to a VA program," Fields testified. "That was a never-ending cycle for a decade for me. There was nothing for us to go to." In a statement following Carter's ruling, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said that "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."

"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," Hayes said. As of September 18^th, an appeal of Carter's ruling had yet to be filed but "was certainly a distinct possibility," Roman Silberfeld, a lawyer with the firm of Robins Kaplan LLP who assisted Public Counsel in the case, said in a phone call.

Rosenbaum, of Public Counsel, was also on the phone call and said he hoped an appeal would be avoided, adding that "we hope that the VA says it's time to stop fighting our veterans." In the final words of his ruling, Carter called on the VA to avoid additional legal wrangling and focus on getting housing for the homeless veterans of Los Angeles. "It is time for the VA's leadership at the highest levels to recognize its obligation and mission statement to care for those who have borne the battle," Carter said. "It is time for the disabled veterans of Los Angeles to come home."