Let's remember, Veterans Affairs has never had it in its mandate to be in charge of homelessness. Yet we know that over the last 35 years homelessness has become an issue, not only in the veterans' population but in the Canadian population as well. We have moved aggressively on this. I've hired a priority secretariat to look into homelessness and other initiatives to allow us to tie into our whole-of-government approach to this issue. We're making an historic investment in housing, and how I tie my department into that is the important work we're going ahead with.
Homelessness is complex, not only among the average Canadian who finds himself homeless, but also among veterans. We're going to have to look at what has happened. We'll work with individuals through our case managers and those points of contact to try and tie them into provincial government services as well as in our whole-of-government approach.
I have every confidence that much of what you said is true. Because this problem has been identified, we as a department are taking this seriously to do a better job of helping those veterans who find themselves homeless—whether it ties back to military service or not—to find affordable housing. We're moving ahead, looking at best practices, housing first, and concepts like that. We're putting together part of an advisory team that's going to look at some of these issues and help us out, and looking at best practices and how we tie into this approach.
I look forward to your help on this file.