Figures on homeless vets used by Veterans Affairs wrong: minister

Figures on homeless vets used by Veterans Affairs wrong: minister

By Charlie Pinkerton. Published on Nov 29, 2018 5:57pm


Minister of Veterans Affairs Seamus O'Regan talks to reporters in Ottawa on April 19, 2018. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

Canada’s Veterans Affairs minister says estimates used by his own department on the number of former soldiers who are now homeless are inaccurate.

Seamus O’Regan told iPolitics that the 2,250 figure used by Veterans Affairs is “probably on the low end,” echoing comments from several advocacy groups and NDP critic Gord Johns.

“I stand by it, in that it’s 2,250 identified (homeless veterans). Is it accurate? No,” he said in the House of Commons foyer.

That figure was used by several members of the House Veterans Affairs committee during a meeting on homelessness last week. Another estimate drawn from an Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) data-collection project that tracks shelter use — and which is posted on Veterans Affairs Canada’s website — put the number of homeless veterans at 2,298.

However, several advocacy groups working to reduce homelessness among former soldiers believe the real number could be more than double what the government estimates.

“I was asked, probably four years ago, how many homeless veterans there are, (and) I answered the reporter by saying, ‘How many snowflakes fell in the last snowstorm? Nobody knows,’ ” Dave Gordon, who represents homeless veterans with the Royal Canadian Legion, told the Veterans Affairs committee last week.

Debbie Lowther, chair and co-founder of VETS Canada, who also attended the committee meeting, called the 2,250 number “a very low estimate,” blaming the means of collection for its inaccuracy.

David Howard, president of the Homes for Heroes Foundation, said the number of homeless vets in Canada is between 5,000 and 6,000. Homes for Heroes helps homeless former soldiers find more stable living arrangements.

“We’ve seen that number to be much greater,” Howard said.

O’Regan, as well as others who spoke on behalf of veterans’ organizations, said that in many cases, former military members don’t identify as veterans during data collections.

Howard said some don’t identify because they fear they might be stripped of the benefits afforded to them by Veterans Affairs.

O’Regan said he hopes the distribution of the government’s new veteran ID will help provide a more accurate number. Veterans will be eligible to apply for the card in phases, with all vets eligible to apply by next summer.

The Old Brewery Mission, which launched a housing program for former soldiers one year ago, also uses the 2,500 figure. Matthew Pearce, the organization’s president and CEO, said he stands by that number.

As part of its “Sentinels of the Street” program, which tries to provide affordable, permanent housing for ex-soldiers, the Mission checks with Veterans Affairs to confirm that people seeking help are actually former military members. Pearce’s organization has found that half the people who’ve told the Mission they’re vets never served in the Canadian Armed Forces.

“It doesn’t matter, in the greater scheme of things, how many there actually are, because of what the proverbial minister says: One is too many,” Pearce said. “We’ll know more of the magnitude when we get a grip on it, and we start to bring it under control.”

Based on the number collected by the ESDC, veterans represent about 4.3 per cent of the homeless population. Other countries that report on homeless vets show a range of three per cent (Australia) to seven per cent (the United States).

When asked to provide an estimate he thinks better represents the number of former soldiers who are homeless in Canada, O’Regan declined, saying he wouldn’t want to give a false number.

“We need to get a better sense of what we’re dealing with, and then we need to deal with it,” O’Regan said.

https://ipolitics.ca/2018/11/29/figures-on-homeless-vets-used-by-veterans-affairs-wrong-minister/