Accelerated Veteran Housing

As I sat and mulled things over this quiet Monday afternoon in November, I felt the chill in the air and the coming of winter as a harbinger of further cold and darkness.

I could not help but think about how the lack of light and warmth of a temporal nature makes folks instinctively more vulnerable in their need for light and warmth. I say this because, as soon as the Thanksgiving long weekend was over, and the chillier weather descended upon Ottawa, I noticed a big uptick in my Veteran clients seeking the warmth and light of more permanent shelter.

All of a sudden, clients that I had not seen in a while, or, conversely, only once a month when they dropped in to seek food assistance, were invariably coming to see me to get permanent shelter, and begging me to find them housing asap.

Two of these people, we’ll call them "Bill and Bob," I had been serving since the beginning of 2025, but had yet to successfully house them. But now, the parameters of ORH had changed, and the government was allowing me to temporarily house clients in full measure for up to six consecutive months, as opposed to paying first and last month’s rent on a 12-month lease. So, God willed it that another Veteran put me in contact with a housing provider who rents short-term converted hotel rooms as studio apartments at reasonable rates, and lo and behold, Bill and Bob were housed within days!

I have since used this solution for two other Veterans, and ORH is now hard at work getting Veterans off the street like never before! As long as I do as the Good Book says and I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, loving my neighbour as myself will come naturally.

Amen to that! Bring on the cold and dark, which shall lead to His Wonderful Light!

~ Peter Stuart, Veterans Housing Coordinator