Since the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs drew up a plan to build 1,200 housing units for homeless veterans at its West Los Angeles campus to settle a lawsuit, progress has been painfully slow. Eight years later, only 233 are open and another 535 are under construction.
But a new ruling in another lawsuit against the VA is expected to give the housing plan a boost. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled last week that the VA had failed Los Angeles County’s 3,000 homeless veterans by not building housing quickly enough and by mismanaging the sprawling 388-acre campus that was deeded to the government in 1888 to be a place where disabled veterans could live and thrive.
It shouldn’t have taken a judge to force the VA to do right by homeless veterans. But we appreciate that Carter ordered the VA to build 750 temporary housing units on campus in the next year and a half and to submit a plan in the next six months to build 1,800 units of permanent supportive housing for veterans. That’s on top of the 1,200 units the VA is already struggling to build. In addition, Carter told the VA to build a town center with services and businesses — something veterans have long wanted. A court-appointed expert will monitor progress and adjust the number of housing units as needed.
Carter also ordered the VA to end its leases with UCLA (which uses the campus’s Jackie Robinson Stadium for its baseball games) and with the Brentwood School, a private school that has built extensive athletic facilities on 22 acres. Although those entities pay to be there, Carter made clear that the leases do not benefit veterans (the criteria for everything on campus).
The additional units and schedule may be a shock to the VA system (not to mention the two schools), but it is a necessary step in restructuring the VA process. The details can be worked out later.
But it is crucial that the federal government not appeal this decision and waste more years waiting for an appeals court decision. The VA should start building. Thousands of homeless veterans who are already vulnerable need housing now. They should not be living in tents, cars, or even the tiny temporary homes the VA has set up over the past few years. They served this country and deserve better.
Some of the initial delays were understandable. The VA had to conduct a massive environmental study of the land and renew aging electric, water, gas and telecommunications services to prepare for the construction of a new residential community. The developers had to begin the brutal process of gathering the funds, including tax credits, needed to build affordable housing. At first, that took up to a year and a half. Since then, the developers have raised nearly $100 million in philanthropic funding.
In his ruling, Carter urges the VA to help find different and faster funding, including going to Congress to request funds. In fact, the VA received more than $350 million in federal PACT Act funding and should continue to seek more.
Let's see what else the VA can do to speed up this process and get the homes built. But first, the VA should accept the court's decision and comply with it.
