Former MP Peter Stoffer refutes DND denial of military homelessness in Nova Scotia

Recent comments from the Department of National Defence disputing reports that Armed Forces personnel in Nova Scotia are unhoused or living precariously “don’t hold water,” says a former member of Parliament from the province.

Peter Stoffer, a longtime advocate for veterans and the military in Canada, said he has been working with volunteer groups in Nova Scotia and is aware of several veterans and Forces personnel with no fixed address.

While he has not met anyone living in a tent, he said some individuals are living in trailers while others are couch surfing or “apartment hopping.”

“What I do know is that if you’re in a trailer in the wintertime, I call you homeless in this regard,” said Stoffer, who served as an NDP MP for the Lower Sackville area for 18 years before his defeat in 2015.

That’s why he takes issue with comments provided to SaltWire recently in which the Defence Department said it had not identified any active-duty Armed Forces members who are unhoused or living precariously in Nova Scotia after doing welfare checks in the Maritimes.

The checks were prompted by comments made last month at a legislative standing committee meeting, where representatives from several groups that provide community-level supports and services to military members and veterans raised concerns about active-duty personnel and veterans living in tents or vehicles, couch surfing, and entering or staying in relationships to secure housing that placed them at risk of domestic violence.

A spokesperson for the department said its welfare checks found no members who reported back or were identified as being unhoused. They also did not find anyone who reported living in precarious housing situations, DND said.

But Stoffer said there are compelling reasons why active-duty personnel would not be willing to share that they are living precariously with their commanding officers. For example, without a fixed address, they could lose their security clearance, he said.

“If they don’t have that, then they run the ramification or the possibility of losing their entitlement to military service,” he said.

“Plus the fact that many of these individuals are very proud people and they don’t like to let other people know their situation.”

He charges that the federal department is refusing to acknowledge housing precarity among its members for political reasons. Making such an admission would embarrass Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, Stoffer said.

“If the chief of defence staff actually admitted that there were homeless military and reservist personnel that are homeless or couch surfing or anything like that . . . it would make them look very bad in the eyes of the Canadian people,” he said.

“Needless to say, (they’re) not going to say anything that contradicts that sort of possibility. A lot of political fallout could happen to the current government.”

Debbie Lowther, co-founder and CEO of VETS Canada, says her organization is helping several veterans and has been involved with at least one active-duty Forces member experiencing homelessness in Nova Scotia.

But she said the numbers of unhoused individuals provided by the outreach workers who testified at the provincial legislative committee meeting last month are higher than what her organization has been able to confirm.

Erica Fleck, director of emergency management with the Halifax Regional Municipality, told the committee that city outreach workers had identified at least 40 unhoused people in HRM who are military but added that she believes there may be “hundreds” more who do not have proper housing, due to a growing reliance on couch surfing, apartment sharing and people staying in dangerous relationships solely to secure housing.

“We’re seeing something a little bit different than what was stated in front of the committee just before Christmas. But I can only speak about what we see,” Lowther said.

She contacted the municipality for more details, and they’re standing by their numbers, she added.

However, Lowther said her organization, which helps homeless and at-risk veterans, has seen a significant increase in requests for housing assistance from across the country, including a high volume of referrals from Veterans Affairs Canada.

Housing costs and housing availability issues are so challenging that VETS Canada has had to implement a cap on the amount it spends on each veteran, due to challenges over costs and funding.

“We did have some situations where we might put (a veteran) in a hotel where we’re trying to find housing and ,of course, a week turns into a month and so it gets expensive,” she said.

Funding of more than $79 million promised by Ottawa in the last two federal budgets for a new “veteran homelessness program” has not yet materialized, despite promises from several federal ministers the money would start flowing soon, Lowther added.

She said this is frustrating because she believes no Canadian who has served their country should be without a home.

“We’ve heard it so many times, minister after minister has said one homeless veteran is one too many, but it just never seems to be a priority.”