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The four sue after the VA cuts funding for THAP, which then stops sponsoring its shelter.
By JEFF TESTERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 30, 2002
TAMPA -- Four homeless veterans caught in the cross-fire between THAP and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have gone to court to ask a judge to clarify their rights as tenants.
The lawsuit arises from circumstances not of the vets' making: a criminal investigation opened last fall that resulted in the VA cutting off a $570 per veteran subsidy to THAP, the non-profit Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan.
THAP, in turn, decided to cease sponsorship of Veterans Village, a transitional shelter for veterans at 1911 137th Ave. E.
Now, THAP is in the process of changing locks and coverting the units to conventional apartments.
The veterans, who say they are being unfairly forced out, argue in their lawsuit that they are protected by Florida's landlord-tenant law, which requires written notice and a statement of cause for eviction.
"We're caught in the middle here," said Lynn Leftwich, 35, a U.S. Navy veteran who is among the four vets suing.
The VA's inspector general opened its criminal investigation in October after a St. Petersburg Times story disclosed that Chester M. Luney, an $80,279-a-year psychologist for the VA, wrote grant applications that funneled federal money to THAP, where he was a part-time executive being paid $78,000 annually.
The Times stories also revealed that Luney signed phony inspection reports and falsely stated that counseling and vocational services were provided at Veterans Village to keep VA money flowing to THAP.
Luney has resigned from the VA and THAP, and a special VA audit is under way to determine if any of the $415,337 awarded the non-profit in the last four years was misappropriated.
VA officials have vowed to find a bed for each vet displaced at Veterans Village, and say space is available at the Agency for Community Treatment Services, a residential program in Tampa for addicts and alcoholics.
But that's not an alternative that appeals to all of the remaining vets at Veterans Village.
"Not everybody needs to be in a drug treatment program," Leftwich said.
"I went through a program like that. Going back would be a step backward for me."
The veterans who are suing -- Leftwich, Michael Baucham, Rocky Gray and Larry O'Laughlin -- say they will be evicted April 1 unless they agree to pay $500 per two-man unit plus utilities.
Under the VA subsidy, THAP collected $150 a month plus utilities from each of the homeless vets it sheltered.
The VA this week also reclaimed two vehicles assigned to Veterans Village to help provide transportation services for the homeless vets.
But Leftwich said the loss of the vehicles will be little noticed.
"They never carried us anywhere in them anyway," he said.