Appeals Court Orders VA to Build Homeless Veteran Housing

The Department of Veterans affairs must build more than 2,500 housing units on its West Los Angeles campus, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Last week, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a court order requiring the VA to construct 750 temporary units for veterans within 18 months and 1,800 permanent housing units within six years, LAist reported. The VA is accused of “stray[ing] from its mission” by leasing land to commercial tenants like the University of California, Los Angeles, for a baseball field and Brentwood School for a sports complex rather than using it for veterans.

“There are now scores of unhoused veterans trying to survive in and around the greater Los Angeles area despite the acres of land deeded to the VA for their care,” Judge Ana de Alba said in the Powers v. McDonough case opinion. There are more than 3,000 unhoused veterans in the Los Angeles region.

The appeals court backed a 2024 ruling from U.S. District Judge David O. Carter that found the VA discriminated against disabled veterans by failing to provide adequate housing on the 388-acre property deeded as a soldiers’ home in 1888. The ruling also invalidates most commercial leases on the property, including Brentwood School’s 22-acre sports complex and an oil company’s drilling license, though the district court’s previous invalidation of UCLA’s lease for its baseball stadium was overturned.

The case dates back to a 2015 settlement in which the VA promised to build 1,200 housing units, with more than 770 completed by 2022. The deadline came and went without new housing, which prompted the new lawsuit. The veteran plaintiffs said the dearth of on-campus housing has kept disabled veterans from accessing physical and mental health services at the VA.

As of late last year, there were 307 veteran housing units open on the West L.A. campus and 461 units under construction, according to the VA.

Jeffrey Powers, the main plaintiff in the class-action suit, lived in a tent outside the VA Medical Center. Following the appeal’s court’s ruling, he said the decision comprises “about 80 percent” of what he’d like to see done.

“We got the most important thing, which was to get veterans off the street,” Powers said. “And for that, I’m happy with the outcome.”

In May, President Donald Trump issued an executive order instructing the VA secretary to develop a plan to house 6,000 people at the West Los Angeles VA center by 2028. The case is now back in the hands of the District Court judge to implement the court’s housing order and oversee construction of units.

— Chris Malone Méndez