No Homeless Veterans campaign to end veterans’ homelessness

Last week at the House of Lords, the No Homeless Veterans campaign launched and was joined by organisations from the housing and homelessness sector, Armed Forces charities, MPs from all parties, and local authority leaders to launch this new phase of the campaign to end homelessness among Armed Forces veterans.

The No Homeless Veterans Campaign, led by the Cobseo (Confederation of Service Charities) Housing Cluster, is working to ensure veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness are identified and steered to the support they’re entitled to, as quickly as possible.

Despite commitments in the Armed Forces Covenant, too many veterans are in inappropriate accommodation, sofa-surf or live in hostels which are not suitable for their needs. Some end up homeless on the streets.

Help to find appropriate housing is available for former Service personnel, but sometimes when someone leaves the Armed Forces they struggle to navigate the system and can miss out because they aren’t identified as a veteran. The campaign is calling on local authorities, housing associations and homelessness organisations to ‘think veteran’, include them in housing strategies, and help them find suitable housing as quickly as possible.

Coordinated by Stoll, the leading provider of supported housing to vulnerable and disabled veterans, the campaign will be delivered alongside The National Housing Federation and Homeless Link. Self-audit tools, best practice guides and toolkits will be produced, and the campaign team will be running a series of free briefings and online training over the coming months.

The campaign is funded by the Forces in Mind Trust.