Holding the VA Accountable for Its Failure to Provide Housing & Healthcare for Veterans with Disabilities

Jeffrey Powers

Mr. Powers is a Navy veteran who has spent years fighting for stable, dignified housing and healthcare. Discharged in 1981 due to his sexuality, he built a career in IT but faced ongoing struggles with depression and acceptance. After family rejection and job loss, Mr. Powers became homeless and encountered harsh living conditions while seeking help from the VA in Los Angeles. Despite these obstacles, he has consistently advocated for himself and other veterans, determined to be served in the community—not an institution or a tent. His courage in sharing his experiences has helped expose the urgent need for real housing solutions for disabled and unhoused veterans.

Deavin Sessom

Mr. Sessom is an Army veteran who carries severe disabilities resulting from his military service. Enlisting at just 17, he endured a traumatic assault during basic training that left him with lasting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Despite periods of treatment and brief housing stability, he has faced decades of homelessness, relapse, and struggle to access care. For years, he lived on Veterans Row outside the West LA VA campus, and more recently in a “tiny shed” with no permanence or safety. His service-connected disability is recognized by the VA, but he has been unable to secure stable housing close enough to the treatment that remains his lifeline. Mr. Sessom joined this case to ensure that veterans like him can finally obtain safe, permanent housing and the healthcare they need, within reach of the community they depend on.

Laurieann Wright

Ms. Wright, an Air Force veteran originally from New York, proudly served in communications during the 1980s. While stationed in Italy, she survived sexual assault by her squadron commander, a trauma that shaped her lifelong struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, seizures, and multiple sclerosis. Despite her service-connected disabilities, the VA repeatedly denied her stable housing and adequate care. Ms. Wright cycled through shelters, sober living programs, and eventually lived in a tent on Veterans Row before moving into a “tiny shed” on the West LA VA campus. In 2022, her shed caught fire, destroying her only shelter and belongings. Today, she remains in precarious housing far from her care providers.

Samuel Castellanos

Mr. Castellanos is an Army veteran who dreamed all his life of becoming a soldier. Inspired by his grandfather’s World War II service, he enlisted at 17 and served across Europe, South Korea, and in confidential assignments. While proud of his service, Mr. Castellanos endured violent harassment and an assault by superiors early in his career, experiences that left him with lasting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and severe nightmares. After his honorable discharge in 1997, he struggled to reintegrate, often waking from nightmares harming himself or others. Despite his service-connected disabilities, Mr. Castellanos cycled between unstable housing, storage units, and the streets. He survived in VA-issued tents and later a “tiny shed” on the West LA campus with his partner, plaintiff Laurieann Wright, until a 2022 fire destroyed their shelter and belongings.

Joseph Fields

Mr. Fields is an Army veteran from Los Angeles who proudly served his country beginning at age 17. Inspired by his grandfather, a Korean War veteran, he joined the National Guard in 1988, transitioned to the Army, and deployed to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield, where he endured grueling artillery work loading heavy howitzer shells. Despite earning numerous service awards, Mr. Fields returned home struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Gulf War Syndrome, chronic back pain, and ringing in his ears. Over the years, he sought help from the VA for suicidal ideation and substance use, completing rehabilitation programs only to be left without housing. At his lowest, he slept on cardboard outside the West LA VA campus and watched fellow veterans die on the streets. Today, Mr. Fields lives in a “tiny shed” without a bathroom or lock—conditions he compares to a medical cell—and is fighting for stable, dignified housing near his VA treatment team.

Lavon Johnson

Mr. Johnson is an Army veteran who comes from a proud family tradition of military service. He enlisted in 2004, even giving up his German citizenship to serve, and was later featured in the Army’s “Army of One” campaign. Mr. Johnson deployed to Iraq during the capture of Saddam Hussein, where he endured intense combat and the loss of his best friend to mortar fire. After nearly five years of service, he was honorably discharged but left with severe mental health challenges—and just a $1,000 check. He quickly became homeless, first in Texas and later in Los Angeles, where he has now lived unhoused for over a decade. Despite repeated attempts, VA treatments and medications have failed to meet his needs. On Veterans Row, Mr. Johnson became known for salvaging a piano and playing classical music outside his tent, a rare comfort taken from him when the encampment was cleared.

Billy Edwards

Mr. Edwards is an Army veteran who was drafted in 1966 and served along Korea’s demilitarized zone during a period of intense guerrilla warfare. He endured violent hand-to-hand combat and remains haunted by the memories of atrocities he witnessed. After completing his service in 1968 and the reserves in 1972, he was honorably discharged but left with lasting mental health challenges and severe physical disabilities—including paralysis of the sciatic and median nerves, spinal conditions, tinnitus, and 93% hearing loss. These conditions made steady employment impossible and contributed to his long history of homelessness. For decades, Mr. Edwards has struggled without stable housing, often camping outdoors and traveling by bus to the West LA VA campus for medical care. Without an address, he cannot reliably receive mail or even safeguard his phone and belongings.

Jessica Miles

Ms. Miles is an Army veteran who enlisted at 18 and served from 2005–2007. Her military service left her with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, major depressive disorder, and severe back injuries from weapons training. After her discharge, she immediately experienced homelessness—separated from her infant daughter for nearly a year—and has cycled through homelessness more than a dozen times since. Despite seeking treatment and housing from the West L.A. VA campus, Ms. Miles has endured unsafe and unstable placements, including tents, her car, and tiny sheds with broken showers, unsanitary bathrooms, and no privacy. In 2022, she was wrongfully locked out of her shed by VA staff, forcing her into a motel until public outcry led to her readmission. Today, she remains in a shed, still without permanent housing. Feeling abandoned by the VA, Ms. Miles continues to advocate not only for herself, but for all veterans seeking dignity, stability, and a true home.

Joshua Robert Petitt

Mr. Petitt is an Army veteran who enlisted just two days after 9/11, driven by a commitment to serve. From 2001 to 2008, he saw some of the Iraq War’s fiercest combat, including the battles of Fallujah and Ramadi, where half his 600-soldier unit was killed or wounded. He was awarded three Purple Hearts but returned home deeply scarred, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, nightmares, and physical injuries to his back, knees, and hearing. Isolated and stigmatized when he sought help, Mr. Petitt turned to drugs to cope, later divorcing and becoming unhoused. Today, he lives in a tiny shed on the West LA VA campus after years of sleeping on the streets. Although deemed “over-income” for new VA housing, his modest benefits cannot cover rent near the campus where he relies on treatment and community support.

Glenn Surrette

Mr. Surrette served in the National Guard and later in the Army from 1977 to 1979. Born in Hartford and raised in Los Angeles, he received an honorable discharge due to mental health issues, which the VA recognizes as service-connected. After his service, Mr. Surrette worked steadily in Los Angeles, including for the VA itself, until a sudden termination in 2017 left him without stability. Soon after, he suffered an arm injury resembling a stroke and became homeless, living out of his car with his girlfriend and occasionally finding short respite in hotels or temporary shelter. Although offered housing through HUD/VASH and PATH, he was told he could not live with his partner—an ultimatum that left him with no viable option. Mr. Surrette stresses that, if offered supportive housing where he can live with dignity alongside his girlfriend, he would accept it without hesitation.

Naryan Stibbie

Mr. Stibbie is a Navy veteran who served aboard destroyer warships in the late 1950s. His service left him with severe hearing loss, tinnitus, chronic back and knee pain from a fall, and lasting mental health challenges. Despite these hardships, he built a small construction business and worked for decades before his disabilities and age forced him to stop around 2002. With limited employment opportunities, he soon fell into homelessness, cycling between shelters and the streets. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Salvation Army placed him in a motel, but when that support ended in 2022, Mr. Stibbie was left to live in his car around the Los Angeles harbor. He has since struggled through the county’s maze of homelessness services without success. Mr. Stibbie stresses that he does not want to live in an institution or another unsafe, temporary placement—he seeks a stable home that meets the needs of both his age and disabilities.