The plight of a former specialist Navy diver, who died alone in an RSL care village aged 36, highlights the dire predicament facing thousands of homeless veterans, his former carers say.

Key points: Josh Manning's body was discovered last October at an RSL facility in Sydney

Josh Manning's body was discovered last October at an RSL facility in Sydney His family say RSL Lifecare has refused to provide clear answers on his death

His family say RSL Lifecare has refused to provide clear answers on his death Two veterans who managed the Homes for Heroes scheme say Josh just needed a safe place to live

Adrian Talbot and Geoff Evans are ex-Army commandos who got to know former Navy clearance diver Josh Manning as managers of a care program for homeless veterans called Homes for Heroes.

Both separately resigned from the program well ahead of the diver's death.

Josh passed away from a seizure last October while staying in a small unit in Anzac Village in Narrabeen.

His family has questioned if nurses were monitoring whether he was taking his anti-seizure medication.

The former managers of Homes for Heroes have joined Josh's family in calling for a coronial investigation.

His parents say RSL Lifecare has refused to provide them with clear answers about the death of the veteran.

After joining the navy as an elite clearance diver team in 2006, Josh served on classified missions in the Solomon Islands.

But in 2010 he was sidelined from duty with a fractured hip and became troubled and withdrawn.

Josh Manning with his fiancee and baby. ( Supplied )

After his discharge in 2013, he increasingly struggled with alcohol use, seizures and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and became homeless.

Adrian Talbot, who was a manager for Homes for Heroes between 2015 and 2019, said he was "heart-broken" by the death of his friend who was "continuously working towards his recovery".

He said more needed to be done to help people who returned from danger zones.

"We send people off to the harshest environments in the whole world, to fight wars," he said.

"And we have this expectation that they're going to be able to come back and transition back into a normal civilian life without any kind of support.

"It's pretty crazy really."

Never-ending battle for resources

Mr Evans founded the Homes for Heroes scheme in 2014 after meeting a homeless Afghan veteran at a memorial event.

"I asked him where he was living, and he was actually living in a park in Bondi," he said.

"He didn't know where to go and I didn't know where to take him."

Geoff Evans served in Afghanistan before launching Homes for Heroes. ( Supplied )

Mr Evans left the program in 2018, after handing over duties to Mr Talbot.

He said his departure was partly due to frustration at not being able to expand it.

Mr Talbot said the constant battle for resources led to his burnout and resignation in June last year.

"Watching someone come through that recovery journey is what kept me getting up in the morning. But then having to fight, you know — fight management, fight government, fight everyone that you felt should be on your side. That's what took it out of me in the end," he said.

Adrian Talbot said too many veterans were struggling without any support. ( New South Wales State Library )

Homes for Heroes eventually grew to support around 20 veterans at a time with housing, nursing care and assistance accessing support services.

Josh was among Homes for Heroes' earliest residents.

"He was one of the ones that we would just need to provide a stable and safe place to live so that he could have the best quality of life," Mr Evans said.

Veterans don't trust services

Mr Evans told the ABC last year he and Mr Talbot helped author a study of Australia's "forgotten veterans" — finding that almost 6,000 are homeless "on any given day".

He believes traditional support services do not understand veterans who are often trained to "never show weakness" or ask for help.

"They feel an intense sense of shame because they used to be soldiers and don't want to admit that they're now in this situation, or they don't trust the mainstream services that are available," Mr Evans said.

He said homelessness often leads to suicide, addiction and serious mental health issues and that the "disgraceful treatment" received by homeless veterans like Mr Manning should be addressed at a national level.

A spokesperson for the Minister of Veterans Affairs Darren Chester said Josh's death was "deeply felt" in the serving and ex-serving community, and offered condolences to his family.

"The health and wellbeing of current and former Australian Defence Force (ADF) members is critically important. The Government is concerned about any instance of veteran homelessness," a statement read.

The spokesperson said official data around homeless veterans was "incomplete and inconsistent".

Last month, the Minister announced the Government would, for the first time, identify veterans through a new census question.

"The census data will provide a better understanding of how many veterans we have and where they live, allowing us to deliver the right services in the right areas," Mr Chester said.

The Government believes the data will connect veterans to free services like career advice and counselling.

RSL Lifecare and its care partner Wesley Mission declined to respond to specific questions about Josh's death.

In a statement, RSL Lifecare said it was "deeply saddened" by his death and acknowledged that support for young veterans remains "under-resourced" and that a "community-wide solution" was needed.