The West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Campus - Housing is Healing is a Battle
By Roofless & Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalists
“The VA is doing everything possible to help veterans and their families remain in their homes…” - Veteran Sarah Kallassy in a video that appeared on the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ official YouTube channel three weeks ago.
On Friday, September 6, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter’s decisive opinion in Powers v. McDonough firmly reiterated the legal foundations that grant disabled veterans the right to housing on Veterans Affairs properties and the right to not have their benefits counted as income for the purposes of receiving federal housing vouchers. In the 125-page decision, Carter, himself a Vietnam combat veteran, chastises the West LA Veterans Affairs Medical Center “WLAVA” for not making enough “HUD-VASH” (Housing and Urban Development Department-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher) referrals to The HACLA, the City’s Housing Authority. Most importantly, Judge Carter declares “void” leases made to the University of California, Los Angeles, the Brentwood School, a parking company, and an oil drilling operation.
In response to the ruling that these leases did not “principally benefit” disabled veterans, both UCLA and Brentwood School issued statements to Los Angeles Times journalist Doug Smith that they were in fact legal; both stated that they were reviewing the decision. The decision sets up a September 25 hearing for “injunctive relief” that will develop an “exit strategy” for the voided leases. Carter ordered the VA to immediately begin planning for the construction of an additional 1,800 permanent housing units for veterans requiring medical care, including those permanently disabled, and 750 temporary units. Carter sets a timeline of 6 years for the completion of new construction and 12 to 18 months for temporary units. Controversially, Carter also ordered the “active construction” of a project known in the VA’s 2022 master plan for the sprawling campus as the “Town Center,” which would include retail and grocers, as well as a “Wellness Center.”
Link: https://zacharyellison.substack.com/p/part-111-the-west-los-angeles-veterans