Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect the most current federal data on veteran homelessness and to clarify the scope of the VA-DOJ memorandum of understanding.
A White House drive to expand civil commitment, combined with a new agreement between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Justice, has veterans advocates in Los Angeles worried that people living outdoors, including former service members, could be steered into court-ordered care. Street outreach workers in Long Beach say the move would cut against the trust they spend months building on the sidewalk, even as more than 30,000 U.S. military veterans still lack permanent housing.
What the executive order says
The July 24, 2025 executive order directs federal agencies to promote civil commitment and to prioritize rules and grants that make it easier to place people with serious mental illness or substance use disorders into treatment facilities, according to the White House. As part of a broader public safety strategy, the order explicitly endorses "shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment."
How the VA-DOJ agreement works
On March 11, 2026 the Department of Justice and the Department of Veterans Affairs signed a memorandum of understanding that allows VA lawyers to serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys and to initiate or join state court guardianship or conservatorship cases for veterans who have no family or legal representatives, according to DOJ. VA officials say the agreement is specifically aimed at roughly 700 veterans currently hospitalized in VA facilities who are clinically determined to lack decision-making capacity and have no identified next of kin or legal surrogate — veterans who, without a court-appointed guardian, have no way of transitioning out of a hospital setting to more appropriate care. The two agencies say this authority is meant to ensure that those hospitalized or incapacitated veterans get timely medical decisions and appropriate transitions of care. VA has stated the MOU is not aimed at homeless veterans broadly, though the DOJ announcement noted the population includes some veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Safe Harbor and street outreach
Reporting by NPR and LAist found that the VA drafted a proposal called "Project Safe Harbor," and leaked slides connected that pilot program to the White House executive order, a link critics say could push guardianship beyond hospital wards and deeper into community settings, according to LAist. Street-based outreach workers say that kind of forced guardianship would blow up the delicate rapport that helps get veterans indoors. "We build relationships and then we use whatever we can to get the veteran the help he needs," Pedro Jauregui told reporters in the coverage.
Veteran homelessness by the numbers
Federal point-in-time counts show that tens of thousands of veterans are still without stable housing. According to the 2025 Point-in-Time Count — the most recent federal data, released by HUD in May 2026 — 32,495 veterans experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2025, a new record low since HUD began tracking the data in 2009 and a 56% decline since 2010. Advocates point out that recent declines largely follow housing first initiatives and targeted rental assistance, not coercive treatment or confinement. The MOU's stated scope — roughly 700 hospitalized veterans lacking decision-making capacity — is a distinct and much smaller population than the overall count of veterans experiencing homelessness.
Legal questions and pushback
Legal advocates, veterans service organizations and housing groups warn that guardianship can strip people of sweeping civil rights and argue that the memorandum of understanding could be used to sidestep Congress. A submission to the House Veterans' Affairs Committee described an expanded use of guardianship as tantamount to "civil death" and said it would discourage veterans from seeking care in the first place, according to the House record. The agreement could also "strip veterans, particularly those experiencing homelessness, of the right to make their own health care decisions," raising due process and oversight concerns, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
What happens next
Advocates and some members of Congress say they intend to push for internal documents and whistleblower testimony, even as the VA maintains that the memorandum is confined to clinical situations and the Justice Department insists the partnership will help vulnerable patients, according to LAist. On the streets of Los Angeles, outreach teams say the most reliable way to keep veterans safe is still straightforward, if politically less flashy: more housing, low barrier services and the time it takes to build trust, not court ordered confinement.
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