Day 3: “I watched so many veterans just slide into a dark, deep pit, and many of them didn't come out.”
Powers v. McDonough's named plaintiff, Jeffrey Powers, testified about "deplorable" conditions on the West Los Angeles VA campus where it was “like living in a tool shed.”
The first witness on day three in the bench trial over the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' approach to housing at the West Los Angeles VA campus was Ben Henwood, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Henwood was hired by the plaintiffs to study the role permanent supportive housing can play in helping homeless veterans, broadly, as well as how it functions at the VA.
He testified that permanent supportive housing “is highly effective at reducing homelessness” among veterans. However, the VA’s program “is not as effective as other forms of supportive housing.”
Henwood said a key factor in effectiveness is “accessibility, and accessibility can be facilitated by having services that are close by.”
“Permanent Supportive Housing is used throughout the country to address homelessness,” he testified.
Henwood was followed by Jefferey Powers, the lawsuit’s named plaintiff and a 62-year-old U.S. Navy veteran. He testified he was discharged from the service after he and his bunkmate became lovers, which at the time got them both discharged.
Powers testified about becoming homeless and seeking help from the West LA VA in summer 2020. He stayed in a tent on campus and said it was “like living in a tool shed.”
Powers said the “constant bombardment” against his mental health was “horrible.”
“I watched so many veterans just slide into a dark, deep pit, and many of them didn't come out,” he testified of his time living on the VA campus grounds. “It's so very sad, and even today, the conditions that go on there are deplorable.”
Powers testified about being kicked out of campus and being told by VA police that he’d threatened a social worker, which he denies. He was admitted to a psychiatric ward “and then for the next three days, I was constantly interrogated about what had happened.”
After Powers testified, DOJ attorney Brad Rosenberg, who did not have any questions in the cross-examination, thanked him for his Navy service. “I did want to take a moment to acknowledge your service on behalf of the United States,” Rosenberg said. “I know that it was shorter than what you would have liked, but here in this courtroom, on the record and on behalf of the United States, thank you for your service.”
Why are veterans living on the street?
Los Angeles is the homeless veteran capital of the United States. Around 4,000 vets sleep on its streets every night. These service members used to have a place to call home at the West LA VA — hundreds of acres donated to the government for veteran housing.
Why isn't this land housing more veterans? The answer is a scandal in plain sight, a story of government malfeasance, neglect, graft and even death. To learn more, read Home of the Brave, now available from Long Lead.
Following Powers’ testimony, the plaintiffs called Sally Hammitt, who is chief of the Community Engagement and Reintegration Services Program for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. Before moving to LA, she worked in homeless-related programs for the VA in Cincinnati.
When plaintiff’s lawyer Tommy Du of Robins Kaplan LLP asked if the VA’s goal “on average” is one caseworker for every 25 veterans, Hammitt said “it's a little bit more complicated than that.” She agreed that if case workers had lower case loads, they would have more time for their cases, “Certainly that would give more time,” she said, “and that would depend on the needs of each veteran that we're serving.”
“Ms. Hammitt, you would agree with me that meeting your staff involved is critical in the fight to house homeless veterans?” asked Du.
“I would agree with you,” she said.
“I watched so many veterans just slide into a dark, deep pit, and many of them didn't come out. It's so very sad, and even today, the conditions that go on there are deplorable.” Jeffrey Powers, U.S. Navy veteran
Du then showed data from 2022 that showed staffing levels at what Hammitt said was “90 percent of the goal.” It increased through the year, but ultimately the VA still didn’t meet its staffing goal.
Hammitt said the staffing “looks a lot higher now.”
She said she wants to ensure the data that Du showed her is updated “because it will show some significant improvements.”
Asked about the 2022 Master Plan that calls for 1,200 units of permanent, supportive housing on the West VA LA campus, Hammtit said, “I definitely don't think 1,200 units are sufficient.”
“We would need more to house every veteran,” she said.
Hammitt described the “housing first” approach to homelessness as believing that every person has a fundamental right to housing.
“We believe that we should conduct our work with compassion and really place the person in the center of everything that we do,” she testified.
Hammitt also said people aren’t generally homeless because of drug and alcohol addiction.
“Largely, people are homeless due to the shortage of affordable housing,” she said.
Proceedings for Powers v. McDonough will continue on Friday, August 9 at 8:30 a.m.
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