The UK Government needs to get serious about ending housing and tackling homelessness for armed forces veterans.
Veterans need somewhere safe and secure to be able to assimilate back into everyday life because they have to deal with extraordinary strains and stresses as part of the job that may leave them with serious mental health issues. A safe and secure place to deal with those issues has to be a basic minimum offer from the society that they have put their lives on the line to defend.
An example of the way that veterans need to be treated differently is the local connection test. Veterans service often takes them away from the place they chose to call home for years and as a result they may not be able to prove a local connection. Because of this veterans have to be exempted from the local connection test as it can be a barrier to them accessing support and housing
6% of respondents to Government’s 2022 Ending rough sleeping for good strategy had served in the armed forces, which seems to point to the fact that veterans are over-represented in the homeless population.
Despite the number of veteran interventions in the plan, with many being in place for some time, veterans continue to be restricted in the support they can receive with housing. There are concerns that these restrictions will prevent the government from achieveing its target of ending veteran homelessness in 2024.
Prevention is a key area, with some new actions for veterans mentioned that focus on service leavers of the future. However, there is no mention of veterans experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness today, which is very concerning with the overall rate homelessness in the UK soaring alarmingly.
In 2012, the law was changed so that seriously injured, ill or disabled personnel or veterans with urgent housing needs were to be given high priority access to social housing. The priority access also applies to homelessness legislation, meaning: if a veteran is homeless and vulnerable as a result of their service, local authorities have a legal duty to provide temporary accommodation until suitable settled accommodation can be secured.
For those veterans with a physical injury the issue of evidencing the issue and receiving a diagnosis is relatively straightforward. However, evidencing the psychological impact of military service can be incredibly difficult for certain veterans who suffer with issues that are difficult to diagnose. For these people, and other ex-military personnel who find themselves experiencing homelessness, a social housing local connection waiver may provide their only route to a settled home.
This route into settled housing for veterans only applies for five years after someone leaves the forces and a similar waiver does not exist in the homelessness code of guidance 2021 outside of disability during service. The time-limited local connection tests applied by local authorities are potentially restricting access to social housing for veterans who want to settle in areas they wish to return to and where they call home.
The Government needs to fund veteran housing and support, and veterans with major or complex issues need to be helped back into housing with a person-centred approach. There is also the need to ensure homelessness services are funded to support veterans with higher support needs, otherwise they risk not getting the support they need from the mainstream services and run a higher risk of ending up on the streets for longer periods of time.
There is a ‘Sleep Out for Homeless Veterans’ event taking place across the UK in March 2024. People will sleep outside for one night or more to support the estimated thousands of veterans sleeping on the streets in the UK. You can sign up and join the Facebook group below to get involved and support others taking part:
Get information and updates at the event’s Facebook page
Photo by Mat Amp [Instagram @matamp67]
