ACLU seeks probe of how VA manages its West L.A. site
Accusing the federal Department of Veterans Affairs in Los Angeles of not doing enough to help homeless veterans, the ACLU of Southern California is calling for an investigation into the VA’s stewardship of its Westside campus, which includes leasing land for use as private tennis courts.
In letters to VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki, the U.S. Department of Justice and state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, ACLU attorney Peter J. Eliasberg supported a request by the Metabolic Studio, a charitable activity of the Annenberg Foundation that said the VA was not abiding by terms of an 1888 deed that created the West L.A. campus. The studio says the deed prohibits the use of the land for any non-veteran-related purposes.
“The VA has allowed portions of those lands to be leased to a private school for use as tennis courts and other portions of VA property to be leased for use as theaters instead of housing our homeless veterans, who are in desperate need of housing,” the ACLU said in a statement Tuesday.
The VA has said the lease agreements generate funds for the care of veterans.
In his letter, however, Eliasberg said leasing to private groups was inconsistent with the government’s legal obligation and had “enormous human costs.”
The ACLU cited figures from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority stating that in 2009 Los Angeles County (excluding Long Beach and Glendale) had about 42,700 homeless people. Veterans accounted for about 6,500 of them.
It was in the late 1880s that U.S. Sen. John P. Jones of Nevada — a co-founder of Santa Monica — and Arcadia B. de Baker donated hundreds of acres to be used in perpetuity as a home for disabled soldiers.
Veterans activists have complained for years that the VA has been ignoring the needs of homeless veterans even as it leases portions of the campus to private schools, corporations and others for activities unrelated to the care of veterans.
Last month, Richard Fox, an attorney representing Metabolic, which is run by artist and Annenberg Foundation director Lauren Bon, wrote to Shinseki asserting that the VA’s leasing practices appeared inconsistent with the terms of the charitable donation.
In its letter, the ACLU agreed with Fox.
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