Question Period Note: VETERANS HOMELESSNESS

What is the Government of Canada doing to address veteran homelessness?

• Everyone in Canada deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. The Government of Canada is committed to eliminating chronic 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.
  • As announced in Budget 2021, the Government will invest $45 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23 to pilot a program aimed at reducing veteran homelessness by providing rent supplements and wrap-around services for homeless veterans.
  • The Budget also announced an additional $567 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23 through Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy to support communities in their efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness.
  • 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

On September 23, 2020, the Speech from the Throne committed to building on the work of the National Housing Strategy by focusing on “entirely eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada.”

2019 Mandate Letter Commitments

The 2019 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.

Veteran Homelessness Pilot Program

Budget 2021 announced $45 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, for ESDC to pilot a program aimed at reducing veteran homelessness through the provision of rent supplements and wrap-around services for homeless veterans such as counselling, addiction treatment, and help finding a job. ESDC will work in collaboration with other departments to develop the pilot program.

Beyond Reaching Home and ESDC, 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. Budget 2021 announced $140 million over five years starting in 2021-22, and $6 million ongoing, for a program that would cover the mental health care costs of veterans with PTSD, depressive, or anxiety disorders while their disability benefit application is being processed.

Other 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.

London, Ontario’s achievement of functional zero on veteran homelessness

The community of London, Ontario is the first community in Canada to functionally end veteran homelessness, meaning the number of veterans experiencing homelessness is less than or equal to the number of veterans a community has proven it can house in a month.

Between March 2020 and August 2020, London reduced the number of veterans experiencing homelessness by over 57%. Leveraging community-level data and working in collaboration with organizations serving veterans, the local homeless-serving system strategically targeted resources on homeless veterans.

Through Reaching Home, ESDC has provided investments to implement Coordinated Access and a by-name list, a comprehensive real-time list of all people experiencing homelessness in a community. London was the first community in Canada to achieve a quality by-name list for veterans.

Data on Veteran Homelessness

• The proportion of emergency shelter users who reported having served in the military declined from 2.2% in 2014 (nearly 3,000 individuals) to 2.0% in 2017 (an estimated 2,650 individuals) to 1.4% in 2018 (an estimated 1,760 individuals).

• Results from the 2018 Coordinated Point-in-Time Count show that in the 61 participating communities, approximately 5% of respondents indicated that they were a veteran of either the Canadian Armed Forces or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

KEY FACTS

• As part of the National Housing Strategy, the Government of Canada announced an investment of $2.2 billion over 10 years to prevent and reduce homelessness. This investment supports the broader NHS objective of reducing chronic homelessness by 50% by 2027-28. On April 1, 2019, the Government of Canada launched Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.

• National Shelter Study data shows that the proportion of emergency shelter users who reported having served in the military declined from 2.2% in 2014 (nearly 3,000 individuals) to 2.0% in 2017 (an estimated 2,650 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.

• On September 23, 2020, the Speech from the Throne committed to building on the work of the NHS by focusing on, “entirely eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada”, including among veterans.

• On April 19, 2021, the Budget announced $45 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, for the Government to pilot a program aimed at reducing veteran homelessness through the provision of rent supplements and wrap-around services for homeless veterans such as counselling, addiction treatment, and help finding a job.

• The Budget also announced an additional $567 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23 through Reaching Home to maintain the 2021-22 funding levels announced in the Fall Economic Statement in response to the pressures of COVID-19. The Budget reiterated the Government's commitment to entirely eliminating chronic homelessness.