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Title: The VA Built Housing For Disabled Veterans. But A Federal Rule Is Locking Many Out
Lede: Veterans Affairs administrators and advocates are urging federal officials to change a rule that disqualifies some L.A.-area unhoused veterans from government-funded housing.
Topics: Veterans, Unhoused
Excerpts
INTRODUCTION
Veterans Affairs administrators and advocates are urging federal officials to change a rule that disqualifies some L.A.-area unhoused veterans from government-funded housing.
The rule has kept hundreds of unhoused veterans with serious disabilities — caused by their military service — from living in apartments on the sprawling 400-acre West L.A. Veterans Affairs campus. Federal housing officials have said their hands are legally tied.
The problem isn’t limited to just Los Angeles. VA officials told LAist that cities across California — and the country — are dealing with the same limitations. They include San Diego, Fresno, San Francisco, Oakland, Reno, Portland, Seattle, Chicago and New Orleans.
The national problem stems from a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule that counts veterans’ federal disability stipends as income. That money, combined with Social Security, can put their income level just high enough to disqualify them from housing.
VA officials and advocates interviewed by LAist, along with several local congressional representatives, say the rule doesn’t make sense and hurts those who have sacrificed greatly for their country.
“We're…penalizing those veterans who need help the most,” said John Kuhn, deputy director of the West L.A. VA Medical Center.
Kuhn said the system "defies logic": The most injured and disabled veterans can’t access federally-funded housing.
While some progress has been made on the issue this year, many veterans remain shut out of VA apartments due to their disability stipends.
TOO MUCH INCOME- BARELY
It is very easy for a veteran to lose out on housing intended for them. Here’s how: The most significantly disabled veteran receives compensation of $43,463 a year for their disability. But to qualify for a HUD housing voucher in Los Angeles, a veteran’s income can’t exceed $44,150.
A disabled veteran can surpass that razor-thin margin of eligibility, $687, if they receive additional income from Social Security benefits, for example.
And some veterans receive extra disability stipends — for example, for the loss of use of body parts, such as blindness or an amputation — that push them over the $44,150 limit.
Previously, the income limit to be eligible for a housing voucher was $26,500, excluding even more veterans from VA housing. The limit was increased in May.
But even with the new, higher limit, VA homelessness executive Keith Harris estimates that at least 230 unhoused veterans in L.A. still have too much income to qualify for the housing.
In an email, a spokesperson for the West Los Angeles VA public affairs office characterized the number of veterans locked out of housing as “small.”
The spokesperson added: “The VA remains concerned and vigilant as the Veterans who are impacted face significant clinical needs that warrant greater attention.”
There are about 3,900 veterans experiencing homelessness in L.A. County, according to the latest point-in-time count conducted in January.