Growing numbers of veterans face welfare crisis during COVID pandemic, RSL Qld reveals
More veterans than ever are reaching out for welfare support, with many facing homelessness and crisis amid the pandemic, according to alarming findings.
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More veterans than ever are reaching out for welfare support, with many facing homelessness and crisis amid the pandemic, according to alarming findings.
In new data given exclusively to the Townsville Bulletin, RSL Queensland has reported a surge in requests for help with almost 1700 new clients since January, and close to $500 thousand in crisis funding handed out.
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With unemployment rates expected to rise, General Manager Veterans Services Rob Skoda said he predicted the worst was yet to come and wanted to assure veterans there was help available.
“It is a worry you know and I think it’s a worry society wide,” he said.
“And if we look at the veteran cohort that may have some additional degree of vulnerability as we know, it is an issue.
“We know there’s increased demand for help and for mental health support as well and so we’re growing our wellbeing, compensation support and homelessness and employment programs and advertising them so people will reach out.”
Since this time last year, the organisation has reported a 39 per cent growth in wellbeing services, 113 per cent increase in employment enquiries, and most alarming of all has been its homeless program which has seen 126 per cent increase statewide.
Mr Skoda admitted the RSL brand had been tarnished in recent decades but was committed to being part of the change needed to better support veterans needs.
He said the federal government funding to roll out RSL Queensland’s programs nationally was proof of a promising future.
“RSL has had a difficult brand piece for a while,” he said.
“A lot of veterans won’t reach out because they have an understanding that RSL is something else and as a result they’re not getting the help they need and that’s not right.
“We need to actually evolve our brand and our reputation so they know they can reach out.”
The shocking revelation comes as a recent inquiry found about 5800 ex-serving men and women are homeless each year.
In response to the report, Veterans’ Affairs Minister Darren Chester today announced a new set of industry standards, training materials and a toolkit to be developed by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) and the Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA).
Mr Chester said the initiative would improve interaction between housing providers, DVA, ex-service organisations (ESOs) and Open Arms – Veterans and Families Counselling.
At present there is no single source of data on veterans’ homelessness.
“Partnering with CHIA on this work is vital as it represents all community housing providers across Australia, managing more than 100,000 rental properties, which will allow us to connect with veteran communities in all states and territories,” Mr Chester said.
Originally published as Growing numbers of veterans face welfare crisis during COVID pandemic, RSL Qld reveals