The inability to house our soldiers is a national shame

OTTAWA—In late January, the Ottawa Citizen ran a story that as of April 1, 2024, rents will be going up for Canadian military personnel living in accommodations provided by National Defence. This was not something that the Department of National Defence deliberately made public, but rather it was disgruntled soldiers who leaked the news of the rent hike to Citizen reporter David Pugliese. When asked to confirm the news, DND officials had no option but to admit the truth, albeit with an attempt to put a positive spin on it. "We are committed to offering affordable, safe and quality housing to Canadian Armed Forces personnel and their families," DND spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin stated in an email to Pugliese. "In fact, rental rates for DND residential housing are lower than the current market average rents." So that is that. Nothing to see here. Indeed, a 4.2 per cent rent hike for military accommodations might not be a national news story were it not for a number of mitigating circumstances. Namely, the CAF are in the midst of a recruiting and retention crisis that has resulted in a crippling shortfall in personnel. In the Royal Canadian Navy, international ship deployments have been curtailed, the Royal Canadian Air Force has forfeit exercises with NATO allies, and the Army is hard pressed to force generate for the forward deployed battle group in Latvia, let alone train new recruits. One would think that every effort would be made to retain experienced members of the CAF at this critical juncture, and that would not include jacking up the rent on their housing. Surely the brain trust at National Defence headquarters would be aware of an internal military report from June 2023 wherein it was acknowledged that Canadian Forces personnel were increasingly leaving the ranks rather than moving to a new military base where they couldn't afford housing. Brigadier-General Virginia Tattersall commented in a briefing note that in some locations, the "average cost to purchase or rent housing now exceeds incomes of several CAF working rank levels." Just before last Christmas, the Chronicle Herald ran a series of stories about CAF members in Halifax either living in tents or couch surfing due to the lack of available, affordable housing in that city. Ericka Fleck, director of emergency management for the municipality of Halifax, addressed the matter with members of Nova Scotia's Legislative Assembly. Fleck, herself a CAF veteran, told MLAs that she has identified an increase in the number of active-duty members who are unhoused or who only have precarious housing. “We have active serving Regular Force members who are still couch surfing, that were posted here in the summer, they cannot find a place to live. They’re regularly now going to food banks,” said Fleck. Her comments were echoed by Craig Hood, executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command. He told the MLAs he has heard "startling” stories of serving CAF members posted to the Nova Scotia 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. Hood went so far as to call the military housing crisis in Halifax an "epidemic." So, the answer from the leadership in Ottawa was to jack up the rents in the limited housing available through the Canadian Forces Housing Agency. As spokesperson Poulin noted to Pugliese, the rents for National Defence housing units are generally below the local market value. However, there is a perpetual shortage of these units, and it is usually those who can least afford to pay the higher civilian rents who find themselves on a lengthy wait list for a military housing unit. This should not be a head-scratcher dilemma for the senior military brass. Having homeless veterans across Canada is a tragedy. Having homeless serving members is a national disgrace. One can imagine the impact on the morale of experienced personnel couch surfing and living rough. And who in their right mind would enlist into an organization that cannot properly house its soldiers? Canadians might debate spending $19-billion on future fighter aircraft or spending $100-billion for 15 future frigates for the Navy, but I cannot imagine anyone arguing against the building of modern, comfortable, accommodations for the men and women who serve in uniform. Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine. The Hill Times

The inability to house our soldiers is a national shame

One would think that every effort would be made to retain experienced members of the CAF at this critical juncture, and that would not include jacking up the rent on their housing.

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The inability to house our soldiers is a national shame

One would think that every effort would be made to retain experienced members of the CAF at this critical juncture, and that would not include jacking up the rent on their housing.

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