President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the existing West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs campus to become a “National Center for Warrior Independence” that would house thousands of homeless veterans.
The order, “Keeping Promises to Veterans and Establishing a National Center for Warrior Independence,” directs VA Secretary Doug Collins to create a plan within 120 days that would allow the West Los Angeles VA campus to house up to 6,000 veterans by Jan. 1, 2028. The new center would serve the Los Angeles area and veterans nationwide, with the 388-acre campus offering “housing, receive substance abuse or addiction treatment” and other programs.
“Under President Trump, VA is implementing a host of important reforms to improve care and benefits for our nation’s heroes,” Collins said in a statement Friday. “This executive order builds on the progress we’ve made so far and puts us on a path to fixing some of the department’s most vexing problems.”
Collins also noted that the VA wants to make it a place for “homeless Veterans from across the nation who can travel there to find housing and support and start their journey back to self-sufficiency.” The VA did not say how the programs outlined for the proposed national center differ from existing VA programs.
The executive order also calls for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the VA to use housing vouchers to get people into the new veterans housing.
The order comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs is currently fighting against a federal judge’s order for a similar expansion of housing on the West Los Angeles campus. In September, Judge David O. Carter, a federal district judge and Vietnam veteran himself, issued a sweeping ruling in a major case brought by disabled veterans. He said that “has not made good on its promise to build housing for veterans” and ordered the construction of 1,800 new permanent housing units and 750 temporary housing units. He also declared several leasing contracts on the campus — including ones from oil companies and the nearby University of California, Los Angeles. An appeals court extended a stay on that in the fall. Arguments in the appeal started in April and a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is expected soon.
It is unclear how the new order impacts the ongoing legal fight over the use of the campus, or if the VA’s stance in the appeal will change given similarities here to Judge Carter’s directive. Task & Purpose reached out to the the department, the West Los Angeles VA, Judge Carter and Mark Rosenbaum, the attorney representing disabled veterans in the case, but as of press time has not heard back. A spokesperson for the West Los Angeles VA directed Task & Purpose to Sec. Collins’ statement.
From housing to ‘Veterans Row’
The land was deeded to the federal government in 1888, to serve veterans from the U.S. Civil War. For decades the land was home to homes for veterans, but several of the buildings were closed in the 1970s. The campus currently is predominantly used for VA medical care. In recent years, a large encampment of homeless veterans formed on the perimeter of the campus, eventually being dubbed “Veterans Row.” Advocates and the veterans pushed for the VA and local governments to do more to help the thousands of unhoused veterans in the greater Los Angeles area. In 2021, the encampment was cleared, with the agreement that more of the VA campus would be used for housing. A few dozen veterans were moved into several “tiny homes,” most donated by people such as former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that were put up on the VA grounds. Those have been hit by a series of problems, including fires and flood damage.
The ongoing lawsuit, brought by a group of veterans, argued that the VA was not doing enough with its land to help house veterans. The VA has argued that it was already working on housing for veterans and that it was bringing in money for services via leasing agreements. Judge Carter disagreed.
There are 32,888 veterans experiencing homelessness nationwide, out of a total unhouse population of 771,480, according to HUD. In Los Angeles County, 2,991 people of the 75,312 total unhoused population are veterans, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is currently working on building 1,200 new housing units on the West Los Angeles campus by 2030, as the result of a settlement for a separate and previous lawsuit brought by veterans. It’s also unclear if the new executive order counts that project towards its housing unit goal.
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