A Commons committee launched a study this week into how the government can turn underused and surplus lands into housing for homeless veterans.

Non-profit organizations are frustrated with a “lack of urgency” from the federal government on action to support homeless Canadian Armed Forces veterans, including a plan to use surplus military properties as housing.

One of the main challenges the non-profits face is “unnecessary bureaucracy,” according to Debbie Lowther, chair and CEO of Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) Canada, a Halifax-based non-profit that supports veterans.

“In the interest of time — we do have veterans who are living without a roof over their head — decisions that could be made quickly would be appreciated,” Lowther said in response to questions from MPs at a Sept. 22 meeting of the House of Commons committee on government operations and estimates.

The committee is studying how the government can turn underused and surplus federal lands into housing for homeless veterans, responding to a motion by backbench Liberal MP Alana Hirtle, whose Amherst, N.S.-area riding contains a historic armoury the government is looking to offload.

At the Sept. 22 meeting, Hirtle said she hoped any plans to redevelop the armoury could become a model for the rest of the country.

“That’s exactly what I’m hoping this study will lead to, is the creation of a framework,” she said. “So that we can take the case study of the Amherst Armoury and roll it out across the country.”

Charity preps bid for building

Built in 1915, the sandstone armoury in Amherst, N.S., was used by the Nova Scotia Highlanders until 2015. The building was declared surplus the following year.

In the 2024 federal budget, it landed on a list of 14 properties that were no longer needed by the Department of Defence, but had “potential for housing.”

Alongside the mayor of Amherst, VETS Canada developed a plan that would turn the property into about 25 housing units and associated supports for veterans.

The charity, which operates drop-in centres in Dartmouth, N.S., Edmonton and Ottawa, hopes to redevelop the building through a mix of private donations and government funding, but the process to acquire the property from the Department of Defence has thus far been sluggish, Lowther said.

Lowther met with Defence Minister David McGuinty once “a few weeks ago,” she said, and discussed structural issues with the building. The next step, she was told, was to await the committee’s recommendations.

In response to questions from Conservative MP Dan Mazier, Lowther said she had not been consulted by the government on any of the surplus properties listed in the budget; neither was she aware of whether any of the properties had yet become housing for veterans.

“The sense of urgency just isn’t there,” said Brad Field, president and CEO of Homes for Heroes, another nonprofit organization providing supportive housing for veterans.

Field, who also testified at the Sept. 22 committee meeting, praised the case workers and other front-line staff at Veterans Affairs Canada, who he said did a “fantastic job.”

“I think where we get stuck is in the bureaucracy, above the boots on the ground,” he said, referring generally to the administration of federal programs designed to support homeless veterans.

“We get to the table. We have these conversations. The committee goes away, and we never hear back.

“We need to take the veteran crisis seriously, and start acting on it.”

‘The demand is met’

Mitchell Freeman, assistant deputy minister at Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), said federal benefits for veterans were “quasi-statutory in nature,” meaning they were funded based on demand.

“That demand is met 100 per cent,” he testified.

As for working on the plan for surplus properties with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the federal government’s central property manager, Freeman said the relationship between departments was “good” and “collaboration is high.”

“This is a bit of a new conversation for Veterans Affairs, because we are not real property experts,” he said. “We have expertise around veterans, the issues that they’re facing, and we’re happy to share those with our colleague departments, community organizations, et cetera, to ensure that veterans have the best services available and that these properties, where they exist in the country, can benefit veterans.”

Bloc Québécois MP Marie-Hélène Gaudreau said VAC services were not at the level they should be.

“Let’s get down to the nitty gritty,” she said in French. “Speaking of veterans with needs, in my opinion for all those listening to us, yes, they need an answer — not an answer a year and a half later. Is it okay when people are suffering?”

The latest federal data, dated March 2026 and based on a combination of “point-in-time counts and shelter surveys,” showed that about 1,700 to 1,800 veterans experienced homelessness over the course of a year, Freeman testified.

Both Lowther and Field disputed the statistic.

“The number is probably actually higher,” Lowther said. “Veterans don’t tend to access shelters. They are more likely to live in their car, stay with a buddy or live rough in the woods. There’s a component of the hidden homeless that is not factored into that number.”

The Commons committee will hold at least four meetings on the issue and report its findings to the House of Commons.