Major Victory for Veterans in Powers v. McDonough Case
Los Angeles, CA (September 6, 2024) — In a watershed win for veterans, the court has ordered the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build thousands of new units of housing for low-income veterans on the West Los Angeles campus.
“This ruling is a landmark victory for veterans everywhere, but in particular homeless Veterans with severe mental illness. Judge Carter’s order paves the way for more than 2,500 new units of housing for homeless veterans who, as a result, will finally have the stable housing and meaningful access to healthcare and support they need and that the VA should have provided them all along,” said Inner City Law Center Supervising Attorney Amanda Powell, an attorney on the case.
The court did not mince words in its ruling, saying, “The VA in West Los Angeles, however, has for decades strayed from its mission to care for these veterans. Charged with maintaining land deeded to the United States to be used as a home for disabled soldiers more than a century ago, the West LA VA has failed to serve the veterans who served their country. 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.
“The VA for years has failed to provide sufficient housing and has ignored warnings from their own Office of Inspector General and prior federal court rulings that their use of the land was illegal. As Plaintiffs’ health deteriorated on the sidewalks of San Vicente [Blvd.], VA officials inside the gates entered into lucrative land deals. Instead of serving veterans, the West LA VA has served its wealthy and powerful neighbors, bowing to private interests backed by lobbyists and engaging in back-room deals and fraud. Leadership at the VA made these choices not to principally benefit veterans, but out of fear of being sued by people with far more resources than unhoused, disabled veterans. After selling and leasing off land given to them in trust, the VA now argues they are out of land to build housing for veterans. The VA’s alleged scarcity of land is self-imposed.
“What was once a home for disabled soldiers must fully reopen its gates and become a robust community for veterans once again. 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. It is time for the disabled veterans of Los Angeles to come home.”
You can read the Powers v. McDonough opinion here, and the L.A. Times coverage here.
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About Inner City Law Center
Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm located in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles and working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles.
Inner City Law Center’s staff of more than 130 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits, or standing up to slum housing conditions.
Contact: Jacqueline Burbank, Communications Manager, jburbank@innercitylaw.org or (213) 947-7902
