Class-action lawuit ties VA to plight of homeless veterans
The alleged failure of the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide stable housing to veterans suffering from severe cases of post-traumatic stress disorder or other mental disorders leaves many of them facing homelessness, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in California.
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to order the VA to use empty buildings on its sprawling West Los Angeles Medical Center campus to provide permanent supportive housing for a class of veterans who suffer from conditions that the plaintiffs argue require a stable home environment for successful treatment.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs, who include several Los Angeles-area homeless veterans and the group Vietnam Veterans of America, said the case, if successful, could have broad implications for veterans’ care nationwide.
“This case could be brought anywhere in the country there’s a homeless vet,” said Mark D. Rosenbaum, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California. “There should be no such thing as a homeless veteran in America.”
The number of veterans estimated to be homeless on any given night has been reduced from 131,000 two years ago to 76,500, according to VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki.
Addressing the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans on Monday, Shinseki reiterated a pledge made in 2009 of “ending the shame of veterans’ homelessness.” The 2012 budget proposal includes $939 million to prevent and reduce homelessness among veterans, an increase of 17.5 percent, or $140 million, from 2011.
“We intend to take this below 60,000 by June of 2012 and end veteran homelessness by 2015,” VA spokesman Josh Taylor said. The department announced an initiative Wednesday to increase the number of transitional beds available to homeless veterans from 15,000 to 20,000.
According to the ACLU lawsuit, between 44,000 and 66,000 veterans are believed to be chronically homeless, meaning they have been without shelter for more than a year or on multiple occasions in recent years. Veterans are about 50 percent more likely to become homeless compared with all Americans, according to a 2009 report on homelessness by the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Citing research in the field, the suit argues that the only way veterans suffering from severe cases of PTSD, brain trauma and other disorders can be effectively treated is when they live in permanent housing that allows access to appropriate services and support.
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“This case could be brought anywhere in the country there's a homeless vet,” said Mark D. Rosenbaum, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California. “There should be no such thing as a homeless veteran in America.
He has been named a top 10 San Diego Personal Injury Attorney in voting by peers, and has acted as the co-chair of the San Diego County Bar Association's General Civil Litigation Section. Knaier is a 2003 magna cum laude graduate of Cornell Law School.
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