The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has sparked anger after unveiling plans to build hundreds of “tiny homes”, which campaigners said were little more than sheds, on its West Los Angeles campus.
The move, which comes after veterans successfully sued the agency to force major housing expansion on the site, is designed to solve homelessness among ex service members, but has been criticized as only offering them temporary accommodation.
VA officials revealed the proposal during a court hearing this week, describing the small structures as an initial step toward complying with a federal order requiring the agency to create thousands of new temporary and permanent housing units for unhoused veterans.
But the veterans behind the lawsuit say the plan falls far short of what they intended.
One of their attorneys, Roman Silberfeld, told the court there was a “disconnect” between what the plaintiffs had asked for and what the VA is now proposing, noting that “they talk about the sheds. We never talked about that,” the LA Times reports.
The VA has already placed more than 100 of the 8‑by‑8‑foot units on the campus to house veterans who had been living in a nearby encampment.
But these structures, increasingly used as quick‑build homelessness shelters, have long drawn criticism for being cramped, hard to navigate for people with mobility issues, and unsuitable for long‑term stays.
VA counsel Robert Fleck told the court the VA has sufficient funds to complete the temporary housing by the end of this year, but not the permanent housing, The Times added.
“I don’t think that’s suitable at all,” said Iraq War veteran Rob Reynolds, who represents several of the plaintiffs. He argues the VA should be building proper housing rather than relying on what he described as makeshift solutions.
The dispute underscores the broader fight over how the VA uses its 388‑acre West LA campus, much of which has been leased to outside organisations for decades, a practice the lawsuit also seeks to end.
The West Los Angeles VA campus was originally donated in 1888 to serve as a home for disabled soldiers. Yet despite its enormous size, LA now has the largest population of homeless veterans in the country, a contradiction that has fueled years of anger and scrutiny.
Much of the campus has slowly been used for outside leases, including athletic facilities for the private Brentwood School and UCLA’s baseball stadium – uses which veterans and campaigners have long argued violate the original purpose for the site.
Under mounting political and legal pressure, the VA then set up a cluster of temporary tiny‑home shelters on a parking lot inside the gates, intended to move veterans off nearby sidewalks.
However, when those units have filled up, veterans are placed in overflow beds when available, creating what critics describe as “a stopgap system” rather than a real housing solution, according to an NPR report.
In May 2025, Trump issued an executive order requiring the VA to build a “National Center for Warrior Independence” on the campus with enough housing for 6,000 veterans.
However, this figure is estimated to be twice the number currently required, leading to concerns the site may be used to house homeless veterans from across the country, in a move which critics have said could result in the “ghettoisation” of veterans.
The time scale over which the 6,000 number applies also remains unclear, VA officials said, with no obvious indication of whether the executive order means 6,000 people should be rehomed at once, or if the figure applies over a longer period.
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