German (DE) 
English (US) 
Spanish (ES) 
French (FR) 
Hindi (IN) 
Italian (IT) 
Russian (RU) UCLA, the private Brentwood School and a parking company are collectively paying only about $2.3 million annually to lease land with a market value of more than $48 million on the Department of Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles campus, the Trump administration concluded in a new report.
The report, filed with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, indicates a shift in the VA's opposition to portions of a federal judge's ruling last year that nullified those leases and ordered about 2,500 units of temporary and permanent housing to be built on the 388-acre campus.
The VA appealed the judgment, but, after holding a hearing in April, the appeals court has yet to issue a ruling. In May, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the VA to provide housing for 6,000 people on the campus, a dramatic escalation of the district court's order.
In a cover letter to the appeals court, Department of Justice attorney Daniel Winik did not suggest the VA was dropping the appeal, but described the report as an update, "informed by the executive order."
Trump's order, though asserting that the VA was leasing property "to a private school, private companies, and the baseball team of the University of California, Los Angeles, sometimes at significantly below-market prices," did not specifically address whether the leases violated the West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016 that governs the use of the VA land.
The report, which was also submitted to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs on Friday morning, said, that the VA's comprehensive review and reassessment has "disclosed that the leases invalidated by the U.S. District Court ... may well fail to comply with the WLA Act by failing to principally benefit Veterans and their families, or, in UCLA's case, by failing to provide services to veterans as the predominant focus of UCLA's overall activities on Campus during the lease."
It detailed preliminary findings "based on highest and best use considerations of the leaseholds and a review of relevant land sale and ground lease data."
The conclusion was that annual fair market rents would be $30,269,500 for just over 22.06 acres leased by the Brentwood School for its athletic facilities, $12,306,500 for 10.09 acres leased by UCLA for its baseball stadium and $5,888,000 for 3.896 acres leased by SafetyPark Inc. for two parking lots, a total of $48,464,000 combined.
"Yet, as of September 2024, VA received a combined total of $1,719,360.84 in annual rent from the leases," an amount less than 5% of the estimated market value.
Brentwood School's lease required rent of $850,000 annually with a 2.5% increase every three years, the report said. UCLA paid $320,844 over nine months.
Brentwood School provided in-kind services through the use of its facilities and veteran activities, all valued at $918,000 annually. UCLA provided services through a family resource center and a mental health and addiction center, it said. In both cases, the report said, the VA could not substantiate whether the services were provided or if the valuation was accurate.
The Brentwood School issued a statement Monday saying it seeks to ensure its relationship with veterans and the federal government continues to grow to meet the comprehensive needs of veterans. Just since Oct. 1, the school said, it has served more than 3,000 meals to veterans in several programs, taught classes such as computer skills and forklift certification, and provided movie nights and fitness classes.
The UCLA athletic department and SafetyPark did not to respond requests for comment.
Mark Rosenbaum of the pro bono law firm Public Counsel, who is representing veterans in the class-action case said he had not yet decided whether to submit any response to the 9th Circuit but seconded the report's conclusion.
"Even as it understates the case, the report confirms the district court's decision that our government should be providing housing for all veterans so they can access desperately needed medical services," Rosenbaum said. "Hopefully, [Tuesday] will be the last Veterans Day when there will be homeless veterans on the meanest streets of Los Angeles."
After receiving the report, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chair Mike Bost (R-Ill.) blasted the VA and the leaseholders, particularly UCLA.
"It is clear that VA has been dramatically underpaid for renting land that could have been used to directly benefit veterans,” Bost said. “Instead of paying market rate in Brentwood, California, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the nation, the University of California at Los Angles has used baseball tickets, tailgates, kayaking and a legal clinic that failed to be open when homeless veterans needed their services most to pay for their baseball stadium on land that belongs to VA."
Anthony Allman, executive director of Vets Advocacy, a nonprofit group that monitors implementation of a master plan for development of the VA campus ordered under an earlier lawsuit, said the focus on rent could distract from the question of how to obtain the most benefits for veterans.
When construction of housing long planned for the campus has been delayed by funding hurdles, he asked why couldn't leaseholder funds be used to pay for new construction?
Two maps appended to the report gave the first public airing of an action plan for creating a National Center for Warrior Independence called for in 120 days by Trump's order.
The first map identifies buildings in planning and development to provide 2,000 new beds in a first phase. The second map includes no specific detail but shows use of the Brentwood School and UCLA properties, as well as an L.A. city park, to reach 6,000 beds in phases two and three. No timelines or details on specific buildings were included.
"It's a paint-by-numbers, not a plan," Allman said.
The first map, he said, is consistent with the master plan already in place, while the second map is only a concept: "It doesn't tell you how it's going to get there."
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Comments