Nova Scotia sees spike in military personnel living in tents, couchsurfing amid housing crisis

Active-duty military personnel in Nova Scotia are experiencing an “epidemic” of homelessness and housing vulnerability while others are turning down postings in the province because housing is either unaffordable or unavailable, provincial MLAs heard Tuesday.

Several groups that provide community-level supports and services to members of the Canadian Armed Forces and to veterans were invited to a legislative standing committee Tuesday to provide insight into how the province’s cost-of-living crisis is affecting Forces members and veterans.

They painted a dire picture.

Craig Hood, executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command, said he has heard “startling” stories of actively serving members posted to the province who are “living rough” in tents, living in their vehicles, couch surfing and even entering into relationships to secure housing that have put them at risk of domestic violence.

“This is quite a serious incident or epidemic, if you want to call it (that), and it needs to be tackled,” Hood said.

Hood, a 33-year military veteran, noted that demand for assistance from the Nova Scotia Legion’s benevolent funds, raised through the annual poppy campaign and other donations, have been increasing exponentially. It’s to the point where the legion is having to look for additional ways to raise money.

Erica Fleck, director of emergency management for the Halifax Regional Municipality, said she too has identified an increase in the number of active-duty members who are unhoused or who have only precarious housing.

“We have active serving regular force members who are still couch surfing, that were posted here in the summer, (because) they cannot find a place to live. They’re regularly now going to food banks,” Fleck said.

“People cannot afford to live here. They cannot secure housing, they cannot secure a rental.”

Fleck, who also previously served in the military, says she also has been told some members are turning down postings to Nova Scotia and even leaving the Armed Forces. It’s not only housing that’s keeping them away, but also the province’s strained health-care system.

“They know that they can’t get a doctor and they can’t find a place to live.”

She told the committee city outreach workers have identified at least 40 unhoused people in HRM who are military, but she said she believes there may be “hundreds” more who do not have proper housing, due to a growing reliance on couch surfing, apartment sharing among large numbers of people and Forces members entering into or staying in dangerous relationships solely to secure housing.

Shelley Hopkins, executive director of the Halifax & Region Military Family Resource Centre, said her organization has been seeing an increase in demand for help from struggling military families. She noted that military members face unique challenges when it comes to housing due to the prevalence of mandatory transfers from base to base.

Often military families must relocate to a new province with limited notice, due to personnel needs in an area. That makes it hard, sometimes impossible, for spouses to secure meaningful work in their field that could help with their family’s financial stability.

“It is not unusual for a spouse to expect their employment in Nova Scotia will be a similar pay in salary, only to discover that it may be actually $20,000 less,” Hopkins added.

This makes finding affordable housing even more challenging and stressful for military families, she said.

Hood added that for those fortunate enough to secure a place to live, the costs are so high, so his and other military service organizations are being called upon to help members more often with basics like electricity, heating fuel bills and groceries.

“It is extremely challenging for them, and people are making very difficult choices right now,” he said.

He echoed Fleck’s observations, saying he too has heard from friends and acquaintances turning down postings to Nova Scotia because of the cost of living and housing realities here.

All three witnesses spoke of the need for more recognition of these challenges for military members and veterans and their families and for better access to supports that can help them secure affordable housing.

“It’s heartbreaking that these are the people (whose) primary job is to defend our country, and they can’t afford to live here,” Fleck said.