A federal appeals court has upheld a court order requiring the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to construct 1,800 permanent housing units and 750 temporary housing units for disabled veterans on VA property in West Los Angeles, according to court papers obtained Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena on Tuesday also affirmed that the VA’s leases with Brentwood School and Bridgeland Resources violate the West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016 and are therefore void. However, the panel allowed UCLA’s lease for a portion of the VA grounds for its Jackie Robinson Stadium, used for baseball games.
“This class action lawsuit, and its numerous appeals, demonstrates just how far the VA has strayed from its mission,” Circuit Judge Ana de Alba wrote in the Ninth Circuit opinion. “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. Rather than use the West Los Angeles VA Grounds as President Lincoln intended, the VA has leased the land to third party commercial interests that do little to benefit the veterans.”
The VA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments in April in the federal government’s appeal of U.S. District Judge David O. Carter’s landmark ruling regarding the VA’s obligations to provide housing and care for disabled, unhoused veterans. On Nov. 25, 2024, appeals panel granted a stay of Carter’s ruling pending the government’s appeal.
Carter submitted his final judgment, reaffirming earlier findings and delivering a decisive victory for disabled veterans in October 2024. Following multiple hearings in Los Angeles federal court, the judge issued several key orders, including locking down UCLA’s baseball complex until its activities on the VA campus focus on serving veterans, capping an oil well on the campus, and expediting the construction of temporary housing.
The judge’s final decision followed an earlier ruling requiring the VA to build 750 temporary housing units and 1,800 permanent units within six years on the 388-acre campus. The ruling came after a four-week non-jury trial in which the district court found that the land-use leases the VA had with UCLA, the private Brentwood School, and oil company Bridgeland Resources, were unlawful.
During the trial, the VA argued it was out of space on its campus, and that the lack of available acreage precludes any increase to the 1,200 housing units the agency had promised to open by 2030. VA attorneys alleged that any relief ordered by the court would burden the department financially and deprive it of the flexibility needed to solve veteran homelessness.
The Ninth Circuit decision requires the VA to build 750 units of temporary supportive housing within 18 months, construct 1,800 units of permanent supportive housing within six years, and end the use of what was found to be discriminatory income restrictions for affordable housing by ensuring that veterans’ disability payments do not count against their eligibility for supportive housing.
In a virtual news conference Wednesday, plaintiffs commended the Ninth Circuit opinion.
“These veterans have served the country, now it’s time for the country to serve the veterans,” said Mark Rosenbaum, attorney with the law firm Public Counsel and lead counsel in the case. “This has been going on for far too many years.”
Rosenbaum said the case paves the way for disabled veterans across the country to demand the housing and care they may have been denied.
Rob Reynolds, an Iraq war veteran and advocate for veterans seeking housing at the VA campus, said the ruling is “long overdue. The veterans are very thankful. There shouldn’t have been a situation where veterans returning from war didn’t have access to the housing and services that they need.”
Although UCLA was permitted to continue using VA grounds for Bruins baseball, Rosenbaum indicated he would file further litigation to reverse that part of the decision.
