Fourteen veterans filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesdaydemanding that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provide permanent housing for thousands of homeless veterans on and around its West Los Angeles campus and take steps to ensure that portions of property leased to outside organizations are used primarily for veterans.
The lawsuit, prepared by Public Counsel, the Inner City Law Centerand two private law firms, also names the National Veterans Foundation as a plaintiff and seeks housing for thousands of veterans it serves who suffer from serious mental illness, traumatic brain injury or post traumatic stress syndrome.
Attorneys for the veterans are seeking an order giving the agency six months to create 1,200 new homes on the 388-acre West Los Angeles campus, lease an additional 2,500 units in existing apartments within a five-mile radius and provide supportive services.
The VA could do that by speeding up the renovation of dozens of abandoned buildings on the property in accordance with a 2015 master plan or by rapidly constructing new housing as the military does in combat zones, said one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Eve Hill, of the Baltimore and D.C. law firm Brown, Goldstein & Levy.
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