Liberals quietly slash millions in funding for homeless veterans
The funding dedicated to helping homeless veterans was transferred elsewhere due to the “narrow target population and limited recipient capacity.”
Author: Quinn Patrick
The Liberals quietly cut funding for a program aimed at helping homeless veterans, citing a “narrow target population and limited recipient capacity.” However, the money was transferred out of the program discreetly to avoid upsetting “veteran-serving organizations.”
A February briefing note to the deputy minister of housing, first obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, said the transfer was handled confidentially because it was “likely to generate negative stakeholder reactions.”
“Lapsed funding is likely to generate negative stakeholder reactions considering persistent homelessness needs,” reads the memo titled Unallocated Veteran Homelessness Program Funds 2025-2026. “While some veteran-serving organizations may raise concerns, reallocating funds ensures federal homelessness funding is fully utilized to support those most in need.”
However, the remaining funds, totalling $3,017,014, were notably not transferred to Veterans Affairs Canada.
“Due to the program’s narrow target population and limited recipient capacity, all options to allocate funds to Veteran Homelessness Program recipients have been exhausted,” it said. “Organizations have struggled to identify eligible veterans experiencing or at imminent risk of homelessness and existing Program recipients do not have the capacity to absorb additional funds.”
The remaining funds were nearly double the annual $1.6 million allocated to Veterans Affairs Canada’s Emergency Fund, which has reportedly been underfunded.
“The department has been required to internally reallocate resources to the Fund in order to meet the annual need,” reads a Veterans Emergency Fund briefing note from 2024.
The fund covers urgent requests for food and shelter and provides tax-free grants of up to $2,500 to veterans in distress.
According to a 2021 audit of the Emergency Fund, a Veterans Affairs employee said the grants prevented former service members from freezing to death.
“I can use the Veterans Emergency Fund to provide a veteran a hotel room on a night when it is minus 40 and all the shelters are full,” the employee was quoted in the Evaluation Of The Veterans Emergency Fund. “I could literally save their life. But the next day the shelters are full and there are no affordable housing options.”
However, auditors found the program was oversubscribed, with 1,902 of 2,576 funding requests approved over a two-year period, and most payments issued within two days.
The report said funding was provided for “necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, medical care or expenses not otherwise covered.”
The majority of applicants were unmarried men under the age of 50.
A review of appeals later found that 59 per cent of said veterans were homeless or had “underlying addiction or mental health issues.”