Question Period Note: VETERANS HOMELESSNESS

What is the Government of Canada doing to help homeless Veterans or those imminently at risk of homelessness?

• The Government of Canada is committed to helping prevent and reduce homelessness, including among veterans, and to ensuring that all veterans receive the services for which they are eligible.

• Through initiatives under the National Housing Strategy and programming provided by Veterans Affairs Canada, this Government is taking concrete action to prevent and reduce veteran homelessness.

• With an investment of $2.1 billion over nine years, the Government of Canada launched Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy on April 1, 2019. By 2021–2022, this will double annual investments compared to 2015–16.

• Ending veteran homelessness is a shared responsibility and I look forward to working with the Minister of Veterans Affairs to ensure we take a whole of government approach to supporting veterans who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness.

Speech from the Throne Commitment

The Speech from the Throne to open the First Session of the Forty-Third Parliament of Canada referenced veteran homelessness:

“In the last mandate, the Government invested more than $10 billion to deliver better outcomes for Canada’s veterans.

And in this new Parliament, the Government will build on that work by improving mental health care supports, and helping ensure that every homeless veteran has a place to call home.”

Mandate Letter Commitments

The Mandate Letter for the Minister of Veterans Affairs committed to building “new, purpose-built accessible and affordable housing units, with a full range of health, social and employment supports for veterans who need extra help.” The 2019 platform positioned this initiative as in support of homeless veterans, and had committed $15 million a year for four years.

This initiative is complemented by other commitments to support veterans including a new rapid-response service staffed by social workers, case management counsellors, and peer support workers, to ensure access to high-quality mental health care.

The Mandate Letter for the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development committed to supporting the Minister of Veterans Affairs “on the issue of veterans’ housing.”

Employment and Social Development Canada’s Reaching Home

Veterans experiencing homelessness have access to programming made available to homeless and at-risk individuals through Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy funding to communities.

In order to understand veterans experiencing homelessness, both coordinated Point-in-Time Counts held in 2016 and 2018 by ESDC included a question on veteran status as one of the core questions being asked in the counts. With this data, resources can be targeted more effectively at the local level.

Further, the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System, software used by service providers across the country, includes indicators to identify veterans in order to refer them to services provided by Veterans Affairs Canada.

Private Member’s Motion on Veterans Homelessness Motion-225

Private Member’s Motion M-225 was placed on the Order of Precedence on April 11, 2019 by Neil Ellis (Liberal, Bay of Quinte).

Motion M-225, Veteran Homelessness in Canada, asks that “(a) the government should set a goal to prevent and end veteran homelessness in Canada by 2025; (b) a plan to achieve this aim should be developed by the government and be presented to the House by June 2020, led by the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and supported by the Minister of Veterans Affairs; and (c) this plan should include consideration of whether a National Veterans Housing Benefit similar to the highly successful U.S. Housing and Urban Development – Veterans Administration Supportive Housing (HUD VASH) Program would fit the Canadian context, complementing the National Housing Strategy”.

The first hour of debate for M-225 took place on June 11, 2019. On June 13, 2019, a motion
to adopt M-225 was agreed to by unanimous consent of all parties.

Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs Report

The Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs Canada (ACVA) tabled a report entitled Moving Towards Ending Veterans Homelessness Among Veterans on May 1, 2019. This report contained 10 recommendations on veteran homelessness for the Government, including that Veterans Affairs Canada explore methods for continued contact with veterans; VAC, with ESDC, better understand veteran homelessness; VAC implement an action plan such as the national Housing Strategy to eradicate veteran homelessness; the Government of Canada create a rent supplement for veterans who are homeless as a part of its overall strategy;
VAC work with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation on the issue; and other recommendations.

Employment and Social Development Canada Engagement with Veteran-Serving Organizations

In June 2017, the Advisory Committee on Homelessness, chaired by Parliamentary Secretary Adam Vaughan, was established to provide advice to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development on the redesign of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy. As part of this engagement, the Advisory Committee on Homelessness hosted a roundtable specific to veterans’ homelessness in October 2017.

Organizations and experts who work with homeless veterans, including representatives from Veterans Affairs Canada and the Minister of Veterans Affairs’ Office, attended the roundtable.

On August 13, 2019, Employment and Social Development Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada co-led an engagement session via teleconference with select veteran-serving organizations to follow-up on Motion 225: Veteran Homelessness in Canada.

Beyond Reaching Home, other initiatives that support veterans

Through VAC, the Minister of Veterans Affairs is responsible for a number of other initiatives that support Veterans as well as the organizations who serve them. Examples of VAC programming include:

• The Veterans Emergency Fund provides financial support to veterans, their families and their survivors in meeting urgent needs for which there are no other income sources available;
• Financial assistance is available to eligible veterans through the War Veterans Allowance, the Assistance Fund, and Health Care Benefits;
• Veterans may be able to access educational and employment assistance and mental health supports as well as programs that care for Veterans with disabilities;
• The Veterans Assistance Service provides psychological support to veterans, their family members, or caregivers for difficulties affecting their well-being twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Not-for-profit organizations, such as VETS Canada, the Royal Canadian Legion, the Royal Canadian Naval Benevolent Fund and the Canadian Forces Personnel Assistance Fund, also provide veterans in crisis with access to emergency funds.

Canadian Press Article on Veteran Homelessness

An article released by the Canadian Press on December 25, 2019 highlighted ongoing work across federal departments to respond to M-225’s call to end veteran homelessness by 2025 and for a rent-assistance program for homeless veterans. The article also notes the related commitments made in the Speech from the Throne and Mandate Letters, and the interest in moving forward expressed by Minister Hussen in meetings with stakeholders.

The article was informed by a July 2019 briefing note to former Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jean-Yves Duclos, obtained under access-to-information law, which highlighted options for engaging stakeholders in the development of a plan to end veteran homelessness.

• According to data from the latest National Shelter Study, the proportion of emergency shelter users who reported having served in the military declined from 2.2% in 2014 (nearly 3,000 individuals) to 1.8% in 2016 (an estimated 2,400 individuals).

• Between April 2014 and March 2019, the Homelessness Partnering Strategy invested $17,655,429 into 74 projects that included veterans in their target populations.

• Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy replaced the Homelessness Partnering Strategy on April 1, 2019. Overall investments in Reaching Home will grow over time to reach $237 million annually starting in 2021–22, up from a base of $119.3 million in 2015–16.

• The Speech from the Throne committed to improving mental health care supports, and helping ensure that every homeless veteran has a place to call home. More specifically, the Mandate Letter for the Minister of Veterans Affairs committed to building new, purpose-built accessible and affordable housing units with services.

• The Mandate Letter for the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development committed to supporting the Minister of Veterans Affairs on the issue of veteran’s housing.