Trump signs order to establish new center in LA to help homeless veterans
Trump executive order focuses on homeless vets
President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a center for homeless veterans at the VA Campus in West Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES - President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at enhancing care for veterans in Los Angeles.
What we know:
The Order directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish the National Center for Warrior Independence on the Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Campus.
In a statement, the White House said homeless veterans in and around LA can go to the center to receive care such as housing and substance abuse treatment. They also plan to increase care and reduce wait times for Veterans Health Administration appointments by offering expanded hours, weekend appointments, and virtual healthcare.
Their goal is to house up to 6,000 homeless veterans at this center by 2028.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
- Judge orders more housing for military veterans on West LA campus
- VA Campus celebrates new building for homeless vets days after appealing order to build temporary units
- Veteran says he was fired from VA after complaining about anti-DEI emails
VA campus must build more housing, judge rules
In a ruling in which he blamed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for "turning its back" on disabled veterans, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ordered to build hundreds more units of temporary and permanent housing units on the VA campus in West LA. (September 6, 2024)
According to the White House, the executive order instructs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to restore accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The order reallocates funds previously used for housing and services for undocumented immigrants to the construction, establishment, and maintenance of the new center, the White House said.
"Los Angeles has approximately 3,000 homeless veterans — more than any other city in the country and accounting for about 10% of all homeless veterans in America. Many of these heroes live in squalor in Los Angeles’s infamous "skid row." The new National Center for Warrior Independence will help them and other veterans like them rebuild their lives," the White House's statement read.
Turmoil on West LA campus
The backstory:
The West LA VA campus has been at the center of legal issues recently.
In September 2024, a federal judge ordered additional housing be built on the West LA campus. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter also determined that the department had been illegally leasing portions of the campus to a private school, UCLA's baseball team, an oil company, and other private interests.
In the 125-page ruling, Carter wrote that the "cost of the VA's inaction is veterans' lives."
Over the past five decades, Carter wrote, the VA in West L.A. "has been infected by bribery, corruption, and the influence of the powerful and their lobbyists, and enabled by a major educational institution in excluding veterans' input about their own lands."
In November 2024, the VA celebrated the opening of the new MacArthur Building A, which has 75 permanent units.