THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
EVIDENCE
OTTAWA, Wednesday, April 17, 2024
The Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs met with videoconference this day at 12 p.m. [ET] to examine and report on issues relating to Veterans Affairs, including services and benefits provided, commemorative activities, and the continuing implementation of the Veterans Well-being Act.
Senator Victor Oh (Deputy Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Deputy Chair: Honourable senators, welcome to this meeting of the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs. I am Victor Oh, senator from Ontario and deputy chair of the subcommittee. Unfortunately, our chair, Senator Rebecca Patterson, could not be with us today. I am joined today by fellow subcommittee members, whom I welcome to introduce themselves.
Senator Yussuff: Senator Yussuff from Ontario.
Senator M. Deacon: Welcome. Marty Deacon, Ontario.
Senator McNair: Welcome. John McNair, New Brunswick.
The Deputy Chair: Today we begin our study of veteran homelessness. To begin this study, we welcome, from Veterans Affairs Canada, Pierre Tessier, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Branch; and David Keedwell, Director General, Intergovernmental Programs. From Infrastructure Canada, we welcome Janet Goulding, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Community Policy and Programs Branch; and Kris Johnson, Director General, Homelessness Policy Directorate.
Thank you for joining us today. We will begin by inviting you to provide your opening remarks, to be followed by questions from our members.
We begin with Assistant Deputy Minister Tessier, who will deliver opening remarks on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada. Please proceeded when you are ready.
Pierre Tessier, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Branch, Veterans Affairs Canada: Good afternoon, chair and members of the committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today to discuss the department’s work in addressing veteran homelessness in Canada. As a veteran myself, I know how important this work is for all of us.
Canadian veterans and their families have dedicated their lives to our nation’s service. If there are any veterans in the room or watching today, I would like to thank them for their service.
Current estimates indicate that there are more than 2,600 veterans experiencing homelessness today. Each year, approximately 8,200 members of the Canadian Armed Forces transition to a life after service, a large number of whom release without needing much assistance.
However, for others, it’s not always that simple — from dealing with physical and mental injuries that limit post-career opportunities, to experiencing financial uncertainty and having difficulty adjusting to a life that is far less regimented than what they know.
Research tells us that, for those veterans who experience homelessness, there is an average 10-year gap between release from the military and first experiencing homelessness.
We, at Veterans Affairs Canada, have consistently taken steps to support Canada’s veteran community, in particular, those who may find themselves experiencing homelessness. For example, since 2018, the department has implemented the Veterans Emergency Fund, which provides emergency financial support to veterans, their families and survivors at risk due to an urgent and unexpected situation.
We’ve implemented the Veteran and Family Well-Being Fund, which has awarded funding to 31 projects, amounting to over $10.9 million, dedicated to supporting veterans experiencing homelessness or in crisis. Demand for this funding continues to grow year after year.
The Veterans Organizations Emergency Support Fund was a one-time emergency fund for veterans organizations, including those that assist veterans experiencing homelessness, to offset the effects of the pandemic. Mental health benefits provide veterans with coverage for the treatment of certain mental health disorders immediately upon application for disability benefits.
Since the 2022 government response to the 2019 report on veteran homelessness by the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs Canada has also dedicated resources to the issue of veteran homelessness. We have worked with partners to expand the Military Veterans Wellness Program to include police forces, including the RCMP, in other municipalities across the country. We have continued outreach activities in communities, including presentations to organizations working in the homelessness field, other federal departments, and at the National Conference on Ending Homelessness.
Through many conversations, we have learned that veterans from equity-deserving groups — including women, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQI+ veterans — have varying degrees of needs and face their own sets of challenges with respect to their experiences of homelessness.
As we all know, homelessness is a complex issue. To prevent it, we need to work collaboratively with partners across the country and with all levels of government — including our federal colleagues who lead on housing and homelessness — to make sure veterans have access to safe, secure and affordable housing. I know that my colleague Janet will provide you the details.
Last April, the Veteran Homelessness Program was launched to provide funding to organizations for rent supplements and supports to help veterans at risk of or experiencing homelessness to get back on their feet. As we learn more about the challenges that lead veterans into homelessness and the barriers that prevent them from overcoming it, the department will strive to evolve solutions to meet the unique needs of these vulnerable veterans.
Together with our partners, the department will continue to work to eliminate chronic homelessness and ensure veterans have a safe and affordable place to live.
Thank you very much. I look forward to your questions.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you, Mr. Tessier.
Next, from Infrastructure Canada, we will hear from Assistant Deputy Minister Goulding.
Ms. Goulding, the floor is yours.
Janet Goulding, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Community Policy and Programs Branch, Infrastructure Canada: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will begin in French and continue in English.
[Translation]
I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples.
I’d like to thank the committee for this opportunity to discuss what Infrastructure Canada is doing to address the challenges faced by veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Homelessness affects all communities across Canada, and the problem is getting worse. In recent years, the main federal program to fight homelessness has been Reaching Home, which launched in 2019 and is investing $4 billion over nine years. Reaching Home is a community-based program that enables local decision-making on how to invest funding. This approach recognizes that homelessness can affect diverse populations, such as veterans, women fleeing domestic violence, Indigenous peoples, newcomers and racialized Canadians.
Veterans have served our country courageously, and they deserve a safe and affordable place to call home. Unfortunately, existing programs such as Reaching Home have not yet been able to make this a reality. Current estimates indicate there are more than 2,600 veterans experiencing homelessness across the country. However, we have heard that many veterans are reluctant to self-identify, making it difficult to provide precise estimates at the community level.
To address the shortcomings of existing programs, we have partnered with Veterans Affairs Canada to launch the Veteran Homelessness Program, which will be uniquely targeted to this priority population.
[English]
Inspired by similar programs in the United States, this new program will provide $72.9 million for rent supplements and wraparound services, such as counselling and treatment for substance use. In essence, this is the Housing First approach that has long been considered the most effective way to end homelessness.
By targeting this funding uniquely to veterans, we will ensure they are prioritized. Targeted rent supplements and individualized case management services to ensure veterans are able to access the benefits to which they are entitled, as well as the wraparound supports they need to remain stably housed, are key elements of this new program. Negotiations are under way with community organizations to provide these services directly to veterans. We anticipate that agreements will be in place later this spring.
In addition, the program will provide $6.2 million through the Capacity Building Stream to support research on veteran homelessness to increase our understanding of the variety of needs.
The Capacity Building Stream will focus on research and improved data collection on veteran homelessness, as well as increased capacity of organizations to deliver tailored initiatives to address the needs of veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Projects are being prioritized that target veteran subpopulations such as Indigenous, women and 2SLGBTQIA+ veterans. We expect these projects to provide invaluable information to help organizations work with veterans to achieve stable housing.
The Veteran Homelessness Program will complement the Reaching Home program by building on the outcomes-based and coordinated approaches to service delivery that have been established across our vast network of community partners. For instance, the use of by-name lists has been proven effective in making sure people seeking help are prioritized for the housing and supports that meet their needs.
Infrastructure Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada will work with program recipients to make new connections between the homeless-serving sector and the veteran-serving sector. This will ensure a coordinated, no-wrong-door approach to assisting veterans.
By working with our partners, we remain committed to ensuring that every veteran can access and maintain adequate and stable housing. I would like to thank the chair for the time to discuss our work with you today and I welcome your questions. Thank you.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you, Ms. Goulding. We will now proceed to questions. In order to maximize the number of questions, I ask that you keep your questions succinct and that you identify which witness your question is directed to.
Senator M. Deacon: Thank you all for being here today. I would like to first acknowledge the Veteran Affairs work and links with our Invictus Games. It’s not on our schedule today, but you are here. It is off and running to be hosted in Canada, and some of those veterans were homeless. I talked to them with a Canadian maple leaf flag on their back, and it was an experience. Look out for the games coming in Victoria and Vancouver soon.
Ms. Goulding, I want to touch on two things that you talked about earlier. I want to make sure I have accurate information. You mentioned an upcoming program that sounds very exciting. We look back following the studies from the House and the budgets from 2021 and 2022. The government committed millions for Veteran Homelessness Program as part of the National Housing Strategy and administrated by Infrastructure Canada.
According to the newest release from April 27 of last year, only $79 million of this was going to support veteran homelessness. I did hear you earlier. I’m wondering what the other $28 million is being used for if it is not for the Services and Supports Stream and the Capacity Building Stream. And I think this responsibility falls under Infrastructure Canada. Can you elaborate on where that money is going? I will have a follow-up question.
Ms. Goulding: Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. Certainly, the full amount, $170 million, includes operating costs. This is a five-year program being implemented by Infrastructure Canada. A couple of important things have happened since the funding was first announced.
The first and most important thing was that the program delivery was transferred from Employment and Social Development Canada to Infrastructure Canada. This is a brand new program that required significant work to put in place the systems and the technical support required in a much smaller department. There are different economies of scale in terms of what you can do when you launch a new program.
The difference between the two numbers is the operating costs that are required for the department to run the program and to support the recipients as we launched.
Also, this is a brand new program. We have a lot of experience in the homeless-serving sector, but we are now working with new community organizations. We are currently negotiating those agreements. Those are new organizations for us. A lot of them are veteran-serving organizations, which is a really positive outcome for this program, but on the other hand, they don’t have the experience or expertise that our homeless-serving community sometimes has. The level of support required to set up a new program is a little bit different than one that has been operating for a number of years.
Senator M. Deacon: Most of that $28 million costs that you are defining today do come from administration and operations. You started to answer that. I wondered about the cost of the program eating up almost a quarter of the budget allocated. But you have transferred, you have moved it around and you are trying to bring not for profits and different community groups to organize. I was wondering why administration was a quarter, and you’ve been able to respond with what is making this a bit unique at this moment in time.
Ms. Goulding: The other super important element that the team is working through is the rent supplement piece. Right now the Government of Canada doesn’t have a grants and contributions program that offers this kind of support.
It is important to distinguish the type of program we are running, which distinguishes it from a benefit program that is an entitlement. A lot of those benefits are paid through ESDC, Employment and Social Development Canada. But this is a grant and contribution program, which has different needs, different supports and different requirements in place because it is being offered through a community organization, as opposed to a government agency that is delivering benefits directly to Canadians.
Senator M. Deacon: Thank you. I will wait for my second question on the next round.
Senator Yussuff: Thank you witnesses for being here. Following up on my colleague’s question, you are telling me 26% of the money allocated is for administration. Given the crisis that we face, whether 2,600 is the actual number or not in regard to veteran homelessness, I am astounded that 26% of the budget would be allocated for administration when you don’t deliver the program. All you are doing is writing cheques. I am at a loss how this to understand an happen.
We still have a huge challenge trying to get veterans in homes or in shelters, whatever might be available for them, and we’re taking 26% out of the budget as administration. I’m simply astounded at this reality. From where I’m sitting as a senator, I’m trying to understand how this can be justified.
I understand where a percentage of the money, $6 million-plus, is going to research and trying to provide some direction. It seems to me this is a lot of money; in my world this doesn’t make any sense. Maybe you can elaborate on why 26% is going for administration. In the world where I’m from, this doesn’t make any sense given the level of veteran homelessness in the country.
Ms. Goulding: Thank you for the question, and I appreciate the concern you are putting on the table, senator. The challenge, as I tried to explain, is that this is a brand new program for Infrastructure Canada. There is a certain amount of setup that is required when a new program is put in place.
Infrastructure Canada is a significantly smaller department. If you think about Employment and Social Development Canada and Service Canada, which delivered the program previously and has 40,000-plus, Infrastructure Canada is a much smaller department, fewer than 1,500 people. Economies of scale you can get in a larger department aren’t the same in a smaller department. There is that element.
We did need to put in place a new funding portal to support the application process.
And, of course, there is more support required for a program that’s working with not-for-profit organizations than, say, another program for Infrastructure Canada, for example, that’s supporting large building of bridges or large transit programs. You can imagine there is quite a different level of support that we provide to community organizations to make sure that they are successful in this space. The operating costs are necessary to run the program.
Senator Yussuff: I assume you keep data on how you are allocating the money. Can you tell me how many veterans’ applications you have received for the two programs since this money has been allocated?
Ms. Goulding: The program is just rolling out now. We are currently negotiating service agreements under the service stream with 28 organizations. We expect the results of those negotiations will be made public shortly.
We are also, under the Capacity Building Stream, negotiating with six organizations to put in place six research projects. As I mentioned in my remarks, those programs will dig into some of the challenging issues around women veterans and intersectionality with indigeneity and trauma. When you are supporting veterans who are homeless, we have programs focussing on best practices in the homeless-serving sector and those are under way.
Senator Yussuff: Bear with me in my frustration here. I understand the need for research, but when we have veterans who are sleeping on the streets and don’t have a roof over their heads, I understand that we need to be doing research, but so much of the resources that we do have — you are telling me we are still researching how we can best help these people.
They will be coming before this committee to talk about their situations. I’m sure they will be shocked to hear what percentage of the program allocation that the minister announced publicly is going towards things they would argue that, “Hey, I don’t think that’s the best use of this money. If you were to ask us as veterans, we can tell you to find a way to give us shelter, find a way to pay for our rent subsidy, and we will be 10 times happier than what you are trying to tell me here.”
I’m saying this to you as an assistant deputy minister that is accountable for public funds to help the men and women who served this great country of ours, and there is a degree of frustration — despite the good efforts of the government to allocate resources — and it’s not getting to the people who need the help the most.
I am being very patient here. I would like you to tell me more specifically so that I can feel good that I understand what the department is doing, but telling that me this is a new program and that the department has to start from scratch is not going to make the veterans who are going to come to this committee to testify — I don’t have an answer for them right now.
I’m going to say, “Listen, I am shocked but, equally, I am frustrated,” because I don’t think anything you are telling me will make me feel any better about the challenge we are facing in this country and how we help these veterans.
Ms. Goulding: Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.
Senator, this is exactly what we are hoping to do with this program. Once those contribution agreements are in place with community organizations, those organizations will be providing direct rent supplements and supporting wraparound services to support veterans who are homeless in Canada right now.
I don’t have numbers for you in terms of how many veterans we have helped, but we do hope very soon that those services are available, and I think we feel that we’ve done the preparation work to ensure that the community organizations who are delivering those services are well supported and prepared to do that.
Senator McNair: Picking up on the previous questions from both my colleagues, for Veterans Affairs Canada and for Infrastructure Canada, is there a sense of urgency to this? I assume there is for both organizations.
My understanding is the Veteran Homelessness Program was to run from 2023-24 and to 2027-28, and that there has been a delay. I understand you are saying the delay is partly because it is all new. I take it the program will run longer, from whenever it does actually start, and I am curious to know whether any organizations or projects been approved to date? I think the answer is no, from what you’ve said.
Ms. Goulding: Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.
The projects have been approved by the minister. We’re currently finalizing the contribution agreements, and we do expect to be able to announce the completion of those agreements very soon. We are, as you know, in the budget blackout period, but that work is ongoing right now and finishing up in many cases. That’s very good news, and those services will be available to veterans in the very near future.
Senator McNair: To Veterans Affairs Canada, is there a sense of urgency, from your perspective?
Mr. Tessier: Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.
Obviously, we work collaboratively with our Infrastructure Canada colleagues to support the program and the assessments of organizations.
I would say that — and I mentioned it in the opening comments — we see veterans on a daily basis, and we work with them across service centres across Canada. We leverage the Veterans Emergency Fund as a short-term measure. It provides tax-free payments to veterans and their families who are facing financial emergencies that threaten their health and well-being.
Our front line staff are extremely excited, because once this program is rolled out, it will be another tool in their toolbox to be able to support the men and women they work with and deal with on a daily basis.
Senator McNair: I take it it is more of a permanent tool, hopefully, than an emergency fund situation?
Mr. Tessier: Correct. The program itself is meant more for longer-term supports to ensure veterans are not only off the streets but stay off the streets.
Senator McNair: I have one other quick question. The announcement around the program — and Ms. Goulding referred to it also — indicated that the number of homeless veterans is thought to be around 2,600. I am curious to know how we have arrived at the number. Is that the real number? Maybe could you talk a little bit about the methodology to count what a homeless veteran is.
Ms. Goulding: Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.
I will turn to my colleague Kris Johnson to respond to that.
Kris Johnson, Director General, Homelessness Policy Directorate, Infrastructure Canada: Thank you. It is a really important question.
The truth is that homeless statistics have long been challenging here in Canada and elsewhere. The normal methods we use to gather statistics through Statistics Canada, a world-renowned institute, involves calling people and having them answer surveys. That’s hard when you don’t have a stable place to live. It is hard for people working at Statistics Canada to find you. We have a number of methods, and that estimate is based on a combination of some of these methods.
Our main source of understanding homelessness is through shelter data. We provide software free of charge to communities across Canada, and then, in return, they give us anonymized data that helps us understand some of the demographics, trends and the number of people accessing shelters. To the extent that people choose to self-identify as veterans, then, yes, we can estimate the proportion of shelter users who are veterans.
That number has been relatively stable over a number of years. It is somewhere between 1.9% and 1.4%, but we know that not everyone chooses to access shelters, and there are a number of reasons.
Another method we have is that we go out every two or three years, and we do enumerations of all visible homelessness in a community. We ask questions. We call these “point-in-time” counts. There we get a sense of the proportion of people that are not accessing shelters, which is about 25% of those experiencing homelessness in Canada, but that has been growing in recent years.
Then you take some of these numbers, and you put it together, and that’s how we get at the estimate of 2,600. Again, it is dependent on people self-identifying.
It is possible that there are people who we have not identified, and that’s where our partners in community — the not-for-profits in both the homeless-serving sector and the veteran-serving sector — are really important to try to build those relationships, build the trust and make people aware that programs like this new one are available, so they can then identify and access the support they are getting.
Senator Varone: Thank you for being here.
This is an issue that is dear to my heart. I am here in Canada because both my parents — coming from a war-torn town in Italy — were saved individually by Canadian veterans, so it is not lost on me what the issue is.
I tend to get into the weeds, so forgive me if I get to specific points. You have used the number consistently of 2,600 people, but then I read that homelessness is one issue, medical supports are another issue and social supports are an issue on top of that. Can identify for me the subsets of the 2,600 veterans who are homeless but require medical supports or social supports in conjunction with lodging?
Mr. Johnson: I can’t answer your questions as precisely as I would like to be able to, but in some of those surveys that I talked about where we asked people about some of their experiences, one of the questions we asked is, “What is the reason for your most current experience of homelessness?”
Illness or medical condition is cited as the primary factor in about 15% of the cases, which is higher than the average answer. If you ask a non-veteran the same question, “You are experiencing homelessness; to what do you attribute this to,” it is about 10% of the population. That is consistent with what Mr. Tessier was saying earlier, that oftentimes for veterans — sometimes years after they have left service — physical or mental injuries can create difficulties that may contribute to their homelessness.
In addition to that, addiction or substance use may fall into the categories that you are asking about. Another 19% or 20% cite that as a major contributing factor, which is actually less than the proportion of non-veterans. About a quarter of non-veterans that cite addiction or substance use as a contributing factor.
Poverty is a major factor as well. That links to the social support category that you are talking about. That is another 15%. Again, a little lower than the average non-veteran, which is about 20%. That might reflect the availability of veterans’ benefits that are not available to the general population. That is one theory. You combine all of that together and you start to get a sense of some of the linkages with health and social supports.
Senator Varone: Following that, then, is it your experience that when you do find lodging or housing for the veterans, is it better to aggregate them all in one place, in one home, or is it better to keep them amongst the population of other individuals that would naturally give them supports of different kinds?
David Keedwell, Director General, Intergovernmental Programs, Veterans Affairs Canada: I think the answer to that would be both. That is up to the individuals themselves. We have a very good Veterans’ House here in Ottawa that houses 40 veterans all together, and you can go there and listen to the veterans’ stories, and they like to be together. They appreciate that company. But then you will talk to other veterans experiencing homelessness or who are precariously housed and they might prefer to be on their own. It is unique to each individual veteran themselves.
Senator Varone: What you have identified straddles between a non-profit and a long-term care type of facility, or a mixture of both, but all of these questions lead up to this one question. In the fold of the Canadian government, there is a Crown corporation called the Canada Lands Company Limited. Prior to being a senator, I served on that board. They inherited, from the federal government, four army bases to reposition them into the communities. These were not small pieces of land. They were 600 acres apiece. You have got Griesbach — I wrote all of them down so that I would not forget — Currie, Downsview Park and Kapyong, now called Naawi-Oodena.
What I am getting at is that you speak about community non‑profits getting involved to be the middle person in getting veterans housed. Has there been any dialogue between the community non-profits and the Canada Lands Company Limited? They have oodles of land. They spend a fortune commemorating veterans’ services or veterans of the past in all of their public realm projects. I am suggesting that through one of the programs of the federal government, Housing First — if land is the forerunner to getting housing built for veterans, they have the land, and they are part of this federal government. That linkage should be an automatic and not just an afterthought in terms of securing land each and every time an army base gets redeveloped.
Has any thought gone into that, or how are you channelling the community non-profits to secure land?
Ms. Goulding: Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.
I am aware of the Canada Lands Corporation, and they are part of the portfolio for PSPC.
As you have probably seen in the budget, the government has just announced a big initiative around public lands for housing, and DND, along with Canada Lands Corporation, CMHC, Infrastructure Canada, are all going to be a part of that initiative. We are looking forward to seeing how we can leverage federal, provincial and municipal lands for housing. I am certain that that would include veterans’ housing. Those are important questions, but probably our colleagues at Public Services and Procurement Canada would be better placed to help you with that.
Senator M. Deacon: Thank you very much. I feel like we are in a bit of a time-warp moment here, where the budget was in lockup and has been released. There is something that you are discussing today that I think is very exciting, and we are still trying to — and it might be timing — understand a $28 million piece. There were some answers today.
This is April. I am hopeful that when we sit through to June, we are able to get individuals back, whether it is the minister or ADM, and that the period of 8 or 10 weeks ahead of us will help to clear the picture on things that I don’t think we can talk about now — or know enough to talk about — as things are progressing in programs. I want to acknowledge the time piece.
I also want to return to something that you touched upon, talking about services and women. There are some learnings and understandings that were going on in how to address this. They do account for 16.2% of the total veteran population. They represent 30% of our veterans experiencing homelessness.
It is different. In addition to this, their homelessness looks different. Instead of living on the streets or accessing shelters, they may be couch surfing or in a transactional relationship, such as staying with someone in exchange for sex. It is the reality, and these are the stories we hear.
I am trying to understand. Our programs have, typically and traditionally, been catered towards male homelessness. What are your early learnings in how we need to look at and accommodate women differently?
Mr. Johnson: These are important questions. There is great research going on across the country. We get into many conversations with organizations that try to help us, consulting with people with lived experience.
You are right. Women more so than men, research tells us, will exhaust all options before they end up on the street or in a shelter. It is not a safe place for many women to be homeless in that way. It is hidden, and it may not be represented in some of the statistics that I have been talking about.
One thing we want to do is to try to understand more of the experiences of these women and have their stories heard, told and understood so we can build it all into our collective thinking, including you as parliamentarians, in terms of your thinking of how government should respond to the needs and crises we are seeing.
When it comes to homelessness, there are many different types of supports. There is a network of gender-based violence shelters in this country that are uniquely positioned to help women experiencing one particular type of transition in their life. Increasingly, we are encouraging others in the homeless-serving sector to learn about the needs that women have when they are homeless.
We have done some research — there is more that we are hoping to learn through this program — about the unique intersection of women who are veterans who experience homelessness as well. The questions that came earlier around whether it is better to live with other veterans or independently within a broader community — that is a really important question.
Until we understand better and can work with some of these new partners to tailor some of the solutions that are being offered, what we are trying to do through this program is to enable choice and agency, and tailor the supports to the unique individual.
If they need a rent supplement, they will have the choice of where that rent supplement goes and where to live. The particular type of wraparound supports they need will vary. We want our community partners to be flexible. We want them to work with others. It will not just be through this program that they will be supported but through a robust network of referrals. There may be existing benefits that Veterans Affairs Canada has available that they are not yet accessing. We will encourage our partners to make referrals so they can have a full assessment of what they may be eligible for but are not receiving.
Senator M. Deacon: Thank you for that.
As you were speaking, I was thinking about a program I visited in the United States that was interesting, where it is basically a post-veterans service. It looks at preparation and understanding around substance abuse, PTSD, homelessness, those kinds of things.
Do we have something like that? When our vets leave, are they clear on what services are available to them or their families should they find themselves in need?
Mr. Tessier: Definitely. I will answer that question. We call that transition when you leave the Canadian Armed Forces today. Yes, there is a process, and it has improved dramatically in the last few years, I can tell you, from when I released. There are transition interviews throughout the process that look at the seven sectors of well-being and ensures that each veteran knows about the services and supports available to them. They can have their family with them through the process. It is a very different scenario than previously.
Anyone who is medically released receives an enhanced service with Veterans Affairs and the Canadian Armed Forces. They work with those individuals earlier in the process because they know they will be transitioning earlier. They have more time to look at financial supports, housing and employment after they transition.
Senator Yussuff: Mr. Tessier, thank you for explaining the transition process for Armed Forces personnel when they leave. It gives them an upfront understanding of what they can or should expect should they find themselves in a circumstance that they do not want to be in.
Coming back to a question that was asked earlier, returning to the gender issue, do we have any programs specifically geared towards women — who we know are experiencing homelessness — that have been developed and are unique in their character and orientation being strictly for women? Is there anything you could tell me that we have developed specifically in regard to the gender issue?
Mr. Johnson: The short answer is no. There is not a specific program. The slightly more nuanced answer is that under the National Housing Strategy, there are targets so that all the housing and homeless investments are helping women specifically with their housing and homelessness challenges. I think it is a third as a minimum.
The Reaching Home program, as Ms. Goulding mentioned in her opening remarks, has long been our principal program for addressing homelessness in Canada. The way that works is we provide funding to community partners across Canada and then they select individual service providers and agencies to receive and administer funding. A lot of that funding goes to projects that specifically target women and their needs, and try to help them in a unique way. While the program is not designed specifically for women, a lot of the funding goes to support agencies with that primary mandate.
Senator Yussuff: In regard to the two funds, the emergency fund and the well-being fund, I understand the character and orientation of what these funds were established to accomplish.
How much funding goes to directly funding programs that have veterans’ groups? More importantly, how many veterans access emergency funds per year? Do we keep data on this?
In addition, regarding the Well-Being Fund, how many applicants does VAC get per year? That gives us a sense of what is emerging and what the trend lines might be in terms of where veterans are at and more importantly the challenges they are facing.
Mr. Tessier: Thank you for the question. I will start with the Veterans Emergency Fund, or VEF. The fund supports essential needs for anyone in crisis or emergency situations, so things like shelter, clothing, one-time medical expenses and dental care. That is up to $2,500 per year. However, under exceptional circumstances, there is leeway to provide more. The fund itself is meant to be flexible and open that way, and $7 million has been distributed to veterans and their families between 2018 and March 31, 2023. It’s a significant amount of funding every year. Last year, in terms of numbers, VEF supported 930 distinct veterans and their family members 979 times. You can see there is a subpopulation that might need extra help in those circumstances.
In terms of the Well-Being Fund, or VFWF, we have had a number of projects. The total funds awarded since the start of the program is $42.6 million, and every year there are approximately over 20 projects approved; however, the demand for the program each year is well over 100 projects that apply for this type of funding.
Specifically around homelessness, the percentages of projects to support homelessness in particular vary year to year based on the demand and the folks entering. However, it is approximately 16% of the funding, and the funding is $3 million per year. The budget last night added $2 million per year to that funding for the next three years.
Senator Yussuff: In that context, the department will keep track as to how many veterans directly receive funds. An academic organization doing research doesn’t really put veterans under shelter. It may lead you towards that, but it doesn’t necessarily do anything.
Do you keep track of the specifics about the people who end up in shelters? There are so many buckets that you could access funds from in this one area.
Mr. Tessier: Correct. I see two different paths. For VEF, I would have to go back to my service delivery colleagues to see if we specifically track for the shelters or hotels and that type of approach, although we might have some of that information.
For VFWF, each organization that accesses funding provides a report on a quarterly basis to ensure that they are meeting the needs of the project.
Some the projects around homelessness could be directly to a shelter if they have a program or they are putting a program in place to support veterans within the shelter itself, or it could be an organization that is putting a project in place to put shelters in place or transition homes. Support to those organizations is, I would say, more enabling than the direct piece. However, we have seen examples where the project does come to fruition and supports hundreds of veterans across Canada.
Senator Yussuff: Our Canadian Armed Forces are diverse. Recently there has been more attention paid to the diversity of the forces and the gender makeup. Is the department also trying to ascertain a sense that some of the services that we have to provide needs to reflect the diversity and gender makeup? The future Armed Forces will be very different than it was 50 or 100 years ago given the makeup of the country. People live in communities. They have ethnicity background and cultural needs, whether it is First Nation, the Sikh community or the Black community. Are we trying to ascertain how these things fit into how we will continue to reflect the modern reality of the military and what the needs are in regard to the service we are providing?
Mr. Tessier: Definitely. That is a great question and very pertinent.
In March 2024, there was a Women Veterans Forum in Montreal that was held over two days where we did hear about lived experiences, and we continue to listen to that, to the community.
I did want to add to earlier points in terms of the services that we provide because it’s important that we continue to improve the way we provide services, not only to women veterans but also to Indigenous and 2SLGBTQQIA+ veterans. Specifically in Veterans Affairs, we did see disparity in the past when women veterans would come forward with disability health claims, in terms of the time it took to provide answers in comparison to their male counterparts. Part of the reason for that is, honestly, the way the systems were built. They were traditionally for male veterans, someone hurting his back or knees.
We know that the disabilities and the applications are much more complex and different. Veterans Affairs did put a team in place that specifically only looks at women veterans’ disability claims. As of last year, I believe, the proportion and the time it takes to answer claims and backlog were the same as for their male counterparts. That team has been maintained and has stayed in place.
Back to looking to future services, the 2021 Census introduced a question on veterans, which now allows intersectionality analysis with other Statistics Canada data such as surveys. This provides us with the ability, for the first time since 1971, to look at future research that is inclusive of all these communities. It is extremely important that we understand the population of the Canadian Armed Forces so that we ensure that the programs we have are able to support our veterans.
Senator McNair: I am pleased to hear, Mr. Tessier, that you are looking to understand the differences within the populations, essentially. Following up on my colleagues’ questions about men versus women, I am also hearing from you that gender-diverse veterans would be included in that. I presume Indigenous veterans are looked at differently also?
Mr. Tessier: Definitely. They are also part of the analysis that we continue to do. In the last two years, we actually have a group of Indigenous employees, some of whom are veterans, working at Veterans Affairs on those exact issues and engaging with communities across Canada. We understand that it is extremely important to support Indigenous veterans as well.
Senator McNair: You talked about transitioning having improved significantly in the Armed Forces. I take it part of that is because of the work of the Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group? They take a sort of humanistic or holistic approach to ensuring people are ready for the change?
Mr. Tessier: Correct. Part of that change has also been to include families. Since 2015, we have worked with the Canadian Armed Forces to provide the enhanced transition supports that I have talked about to medically releasing Canadian Armed Forces members and their families. In 2019, there was another shift, in terms of trialling in Borden and in Petawawa, for veterans who are transitioning and who are non-medically released. They are also important, but in the past, we only focused on veterans who needed medically released supports. There is more inclusiveness in looking at the veterans and their families. The process I am talking about is being implemented nationally now with extreme improvements.
The Deputy Chair: As your chair, I keep a few minutes for myself.
I have a question for Ms. Goulding. You mentioned the Reaching Home community program earlier. You have 2,600 veterans using the program. Is that a successful program? If it is not, what is the setback?
Ms. Goulding: Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.
Reaching Home has been a highly successful program. It operates in 64 communities across the country, as well as in rural and remote areas in the territories. It is a community-based program as well.
The real strength of the program is two-fold. First, it’s community-based. The other important element of Reaching Home is that it introduces what we call coordinated access and a by-name list approach to helping and understanding the needs of the individuals who are being served in community. Absolutely, veterans who are homeless today can and are accessing the services through Reaching Home.
Reaching Home, though, is a little bit different. The unique nature of this new program, which Reaching Home can’t provide on a regular and ongoing basis, is rent supplements. For example, Reaching Home will provide prevention supports. You could get short-term rental support; you could get rental arrears support through community entities and through Reaching Home. However, this new program is designed to provide ongoing rent supplements to put the veteran in a stable situation. Reaching Home does not typically pay for some of the health and medical supports. The community entities that administer the Reaching Home funding rely on provincial and municipal services that are already active in this area.
The really unique thing about this new program is that it will have the ability to pay for the kinds of medical services that veterans might need. The other really important link is through VAC.
This program is being run through Infrastructure Canada but in close collaboration with Veterans Affairs Canada to ensure that our homeless-serving sector is linked with our new community organizations that will receive funding through this new program.
They are linked to Veterans Affairs Canada to ensure that veterans who self-identify are actually accessing the benefits to which they are entitled. We know that people who are homeless are often hesitant to identify as veterans for many different reasons and for many valid reasons. Community organizations are often best placed to have that trust relationship with them to identify their history as a veteran and then to link them into Veterans Affairs Canada, to link them into community services and also to link them into our Reaching Home community entities, if necessary.
We see this new program as being complementary to Reaching Home. We hope that it will allow our Reaching Home community entities to make referrals to this program to ensure that veterans are receiving that prioritized and customized service that the Reaching Home program can’t necessarily provide to all of its recipients. Reaching Home provides those services through other connections in the community.
Mr. Tessier: I do not believe I have anything to add on that front, Mr. Chair, other than to say that we are working collaboratively.
I want to add the link to which Janet just referred in terms of when the program is rolled out. We do work closely across our service centres today with organizations and communities, whether they are shelters or food banks. Again, with this link, there are no bad doors for veterans to approach. The goal is to have those community links to ensure we provide the best services for veterans at a local level.
The Deputy Chair: This brings us to the end of today’s meeting.
I would like to extend a sincere thank you to Mr. Tessier, Mr. Keedwell, Ms. Goulding and Mr. Johnson for taking the time to be here with us today and for sharing this testimony on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada and Infrastructure Canada.
Our next meeting will take place Wednesday, May 1, at our usual time, 12 p.m.
I also wish to thank our library analysts, our very important clerk here in the Senate committee and everyone behind the scenes who are helping to make today’s meeting possible.
I wish everyone a good afternoon.
(The committee adjourned.)