President Trump's executive order calling for a National Center for Warrior Independence to house thousands of veterans in West Los Angeles has gained widespread support, including among his political opposition.
But as a deadline approaches for an action plan to be submitted to the president, supporters of the order have become alarmed that potentially radical change for land donated as a home for disabled veterans more than a century ago is being drafted behind a wall of secrecy.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has required everyone associated with the planning — employees, contractors and other government officials — to sign nondisclosure agreements, and has denied both congressional staffers and veterans and their advocates the opportunity to review or comment on the plan, they say.
"I am thankful for President Trump's executive order," said Iraq war veteran Rob Reynolds, speaking at a roundtable on the executive order last week. "This is the first time I've seen or read anything where the president of the United States has taken a position that this is a Soldiers' Home."
But Reynolds, who has become an unofficial advocate for veterans trying to obtain housing and services on the West L.A. campus, said the VA has blown an opportunity to build trust with veterans.
"I've seen over the years how it goes when you have meetings behind closed doors and you don't consult with people affected by the plan," he said. "There's going to be problems with that plan."
The three-hour session in the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall near downtown was convened by Rep. Mark Takano (D- Riverside), ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
"Although I disagree with the president on almost everything, I am as eager as he is to see the Soldiers' Home become a community for veterans and to see us establish a Center for Warrior Independence in West L.A.," Takano said.
Takano framed the event as a roundtable, rather than congressional hearing, after the VA declined to send any staff to answer questions and no Republicans on the committee agreed to attend.
"I do want everyone to know they were invited," Takano said in leading the session off. "I am particularly frustrated by the lack of transparency VA has shown Congress, the public and veterans about its plans for West L.A."
Two other House members, Brad Sherman (D- Porter Ranch), whose district includes the West L.A. campus, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D- Los Angeles), attended, as did Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
Trump issued the order May 9, giving the VA 120 days to return with a plan "to house up to 6,000 homeless veterans" by Jan. 1, 2028.
That number — three times greater than the housing currently planned on the 388-acre property — led to speculation about what kind of housing was intended, where it would go, what it would cost and where the money would come from.
The VA has included $530 million for construction on the West L.A. campus in its current budget request, but it's unclear whether that amount will be approved by Congress, Sherman said.
He said the House has passed a $1.75-billion appropriation covering all construction of VA hospitals, clinics, housing and even cemeteries across the nation.
There is no indication a third or a quarter of that money will be spent in L.A., and the Senate version of the bill earmarks only $53 million for West L.A., Sherman said.
In response to a request for comment, VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz said in a statement that "the VA recently announced $818 million in grants to fight Veteran homelessness across the country, of which more than $138 million will benefit Veterans in California."
Kasperowicz declined The Times' request to interview the VA's Veterans Experience Officer Lynda Davis, who leads the action plan.
"That planning process is underway and additional announcements regarding implementation and budget will be made once the process is complete," his statement said.
Trump's executive order has added a new dimension to a more than decade-long court battle over the VA's failure to provide veteran housing on the property which was deeded to the government in 1888 as a home for disabled soldiers. After housing as many as 4,000 veterans early in the 20th century, the Soldier's Home was shut down in the early 1970s as the VA shifted its mission to medical treatment.
The settlement of a 2011 lawsuit requires the VA to produce 1,200 units of permanent housing on the grounds. Rather than fund and build it, the VA contracted the work to affordable housing developers who brought outside funding through time-consuming tax credits. So far, the developers have completed 571 of those units.
A second lawsuit precipitated by that slow progress led to a judgment last year requiring the VA to quickly build 750 units of prefab housing to be occupied by veterans temporarily while it builds another 1,800 units of permanent housing.
The order, by U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, was stayed after the VA appealed the judgment. Nearly five months after hearing arguments, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to issue a ruling.
In a sign of how Trump's VA order has bridged political alignments, lawyers with the Public Counsel pro bono law firm, which has sued the Trump administration over immigration policy, quoted from it extensively in a supplemental brief filed with the 9th Circuit.
"This presidential directive 'restores' the Grounds to their original purpose of "hous[ing] disabled veterans," they wrote, praising it as an endorsement of their goal of expediting new housing construction on the campus.
But the order's wording to "restore the capacity to house up to 6,000 homeless veterans" left a wide range of possibilities — whether it meant 6,000 units for permanent residency or fewer units that veterans from around the country would be shuttled through on a temporary basis.
Kasperowicz's statement said the facility would be used by veterans nationwide.
"By establishing the National Center for Warrior Independence, we will turn the campus into a beacon of hope and a destination for homeless Veterans from across the nation who can find housing and support there and start their journey back to self-sufficiency," it said.
Veterans speaking at the roundtable had diverse views on the type of housing needed.
Army veteran Rob Begland called "preposterous" the notion of 6,000 veterans from across the nation being "dumped into Los Angeles." But he also said it would be a grave mistake to view the goal merely as housing the veterans of Los Angeles.
"I believe our most general duty to veterans is to reintegrate them into society after their military service," he said, urging the Congress members to press the administration on the need for vocational training.
Some veterans say the VA policies on housing hold them back from reintegrating in other parts of life.
Air Force veteran Robert Canas said he is unable to access his vocational benefits for fear of losing his housing.
"We are being told that if we go back to school we are going to be evicted from the apartment," he said. "We are being told that if we go back to work and make too much money that we are going to be evicted from the apartment."
Anthony Allman, executive director of Vets Advisory, a nonprofit created to monitor the the 2011 settlement, proposed a VA collaboration with the community colleges to build housing for the veterans attending them.
Sal Grammatico, who said he has been active on the campus for 20 years, said housing is also needed for patients receiving treatment at the VA hospital.
"I think it needs to be made part of the plan as to what percentage of the housing at the home is going to be transitional housing versus permanent housing versus housing for the veterans that are being treated while they are going through all their different procedures including psychological, physical and everything else," he said.
Reynolds said there needs to be housing options more aligned to individual veterans' needs.
The "harm reduction" model followed at the tiny home village on the campus has been valuable in getting veterans off the street who are struggling with substance abuse.
"Watching veterans from when they were out on the street come in, I do see the drug use go down," he said. "With that, there are veterans out there that are sober and would like programs where they can be around other veterans that are sober."
There should be areas on campus for both, he said, and also "an area for those with severe mental illness that really need case management."
Several of the veterans described safety and security issues that need to be addressed for the housing that already exists.
Canas said lack of support services have allowed a drug den and brothel to operate in a hallway of his building leading to frequent overdoses.
"We are consistently having people die on that campus," he said.
Following the roundtable, Takano and Sherman said they are working on legislation that would increase transparency, prohibit nondisclosure agreements and address the issues raised by veterans.
Sherman acknowledged that any plans for the VA face a philosophical dilemma that goes beyond simply getting housing built.
"You don't want people to be disincentivized to get their life together and get their careers together," he said in an interview. "At the same time, your Utopian brotherhood of veterans, sisterhood of veterans community would mean that if somebody founds a high-tech firm and makes $5 million they continue to live there because that's their community."
But practical considerations come first, he said: 'Let's get people indoors."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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