The first steps toward development of a national approach to helping homeless veterans were taken at the Homeless Veterans Forum held April 15-16 at Legion House in Ottawa, where participants agreed to form a group to draw up a road map for future discussions and co-ordinated work.

“It is clear we need to address the homeless veteran situation (with) a national policy,” said Dominion President Gordon Moore of The Royal Canadian Legion. Legion Grand President Larry Murray moderated the forum attended by university researchers, government veteran services agencies, representatives of homeless shelters and veterans organizations and advocates.

The forum identified gaps in prevention, research and services, “where the need is and why we should be there,” said Moore.

Nobody really knows how many homeless veterans there are in Canada, but it is suspected that veterans are over-represented in the homeless population. Seven per cent of respondents to a 2013 survey of homeless people in Toronto identified themselves as veterans, as did 4.3 per cent of the 2,148 participants in the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s four-year, five-city At Home/Chez Soi Project. Yet veterans make up only two per cent of the general Canadian population, said Aklilu Wendaferew of Good Shepherd Ministries in Toronto.

A profile began to emerge in Canada’s first study of homeless veterans (Vanishing Veterans, November/December 2010) by researchers Susan Ray, associate professor at Western University, and Cheryl Forchuk of Lawson Health Research Institute, both of London, Ont. They interviewed 54 homeless veterans in five cities and found on average they had left the military 27 years earlier, and had been homeless for eight years. Two were Second World War veterans, three had served in Vietnam.

Homeless aboriginal veterans had been among the 20,000 children removed from their families in the 1960s to 1980s by child welfare authorities and placed with non-native middle-class families. These veterans suffered a loss of identity and belonging to their birth culture, their adoptive families and the military. Further research will show if aboriginal military personnel have a higher risk of homelessness, Ray said.

Homelessness is a slow process for veterans that begins with a poor transition to civilian life, use of alcohol or drugs to cope, followed by broken relationships, inability to keep jobs, and finally “becoming homeless many years after their release from the military,” said Ray. And although the Canadian Armed Forces’ SCAN (Second Career Assistance Network) seminars have been running since the 1980s, none of the veterans interviewed mentioned it.

“Generally, the first thing to go is self-respect,” said Forchuk, who presented results of the Canadian Model for Housing and Support for Homeless Veterans project, funded by the federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy with support  from Veterans Affairs Canada. The two-year pilot project provided veterans transitional housing in four cities across Canada, with programs that provided military-like structure and peer support and addressed issues of addiction, mental health and self-respect. A major finding was that providing safe, reliable housing away from shelters and street life is a first step towards tackling other issues that reinforce homelessness.

The success of the housing-first strategy was echoed by many speakers. Once in safe and reliable housing, veterans can move on to tackle addiction problems, get treatment for mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorder, or go through vocational rehabilitation and find steady employment.

Generally, speakers observed that veterans prefer being separate from the general shelter population, need structure and want programs designed for veterans, run by people who understand military culture, and preferably with vets-helping-vets peer support.

Speakers’ suggestions ranged from monitoring veterans for three years after they leave the CAF; stepping up outreach to find homeless veterans and connect them to services in their communities; continuing research; and providing shelters and mental health professionals specifically for veterans.

When the Veterans Ombudsman’s Office launched the Leave No One Behind homeless campaign in 2009, “we were told at that time it wasn’t a problem. I’m overwhelmed by what’s been done since that date,” said Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent.  Homeless veterans are now on VAC’s radar and veterans organizations are finding and getting them help. Shelters now identify veterans and refer them to VAC. Ontario Command’s Leave the Streets Behind program has become a national Legion program; transitional housing is available in B.C./Yukon Command’s Cockrell House in Victoria and Madison Place in Calgary, which is supported by Alberta-Northwest Territories Command.

“We are all trying to do our best,” said Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino. He applauded the ‘heavy lifting’ by shelters and veterans organizations, but added no one agency, group or government can solve the problem. Veterans’ homelessness “transcends borders, jurisdictions, political spheres…” And, he said, the job is far from done.

Forum participants emphasized the importance of research. There is much still to learn about prevention of homelessness among veterans, identifying and connecting homeless veterans to services in their communities, the best ways to meet their needs for housing, support, treatment, jobs.

Barriers to prevention of homelessness begin before veterans leave the military, said retired lieutenant-colonel Chris Linford, Wounded Warriors of Canada national ambassador. Military culture stresses self-sufficiency, so many veterans are loath to seek help. Added to this, some with military service don’t consider themselves to be veterans, others don’t know about services available through Veterans Affairs Canada, others distrust the military and veteran establishment.

VAC has identified 386 homeless veterans who are receiving VAC benefits and community services, said Janice Burke, senior director, strategic policy. Every homeless veteran can get help from Veterans Affairs Canada, she said. Veterans without service-related conditions still have access to VAC case management, career counselling, job-search training and peer support. Those with service-related conditions have access to a gamut of services and benefits, ranging from financial support, physical and career rehabilitation, mental health services to health care.

As if in answer to that call, the Legion announced a partnership with Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) Canada, whose volunteers across the country identify homeless veterans, including those living on the streets, in the bush and under bridges, and connect them to services.

“Tackling homeless veterans’ issues requires a concerted and co-ordinated effort,” said Barry Yhard, executive director of VETS Canada. “This partnership is a step in that direction.”