A federal appeals court has granted the government’s motion to stay a judge’s ruling ordering the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build more than 100 temporary housing units for disabled veterans on VA property in West Los Angeles, according to court papers.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals previously issued a temporary stay of U.S. District Judge David Carter’s order for the immediate placement of modular housing on designated space on the VA grounds pending the court’s resolution of the VA’s motion.
The appellate decision on Monday means that, as the government sought, no action will be taken to construct temporary housing or speed the process of building permanent housing on the VA campus until after the government’s appeal is decided.
“We appreciate that the court accelerated the hearing on the government’s appeal, so the case will be heard in April,” Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney representing the veterans, said in a statement. “The government argued to the court that the VA, with an annual budget of $407 billion, had no resources for the purposes of putting housing ordered by the court on the 388-acre West LA grounds, which were deeded to the government to serve as a home for unhoused veterans whose disabilities like brain trauma, PTSD, and severe mental illness were incurred as result of service to the nation.”