Veterans: Essex
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to support homeless military veterans in Essex.
Answered by Al Carns
This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who serve our country. I am working across Government to ensure veterans throughout the UK have access to the support they need on housing, as well as health, employment and other areas.
To achieve this the Government has committed a further £3.5 million to the Reducing Veteran Homelessness Programme, including Op FORTITUDE, the homelessness pathway for veterans. As of 10 November 2024, Op FORTITUDE has taken over 2,700 referrals and supported over 800 veterans into housing.
This new funding announcement follows the Prime Minister’s commitment earlier in the year that veterans living in England will be exempt from local connection and residency tests when applying for social housing. I recently attended a roundtable with veteran housing organisations to discuss the implementation of this reform, and I am also a member of the Inter-ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping which is driving progress on the development of our cross-government homelessness strategy.
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