Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the increasing levels of homelessness among former armed forces
personnel; and what steps they are taking to tackle homelessness
among veterans.
The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Baroness Neville- Rolfe)
(Con)
The Government doubt that the statistics available prove that
there is an increasing level of homelessness among veterans.
However, any homelessness among veterans needs to be tackled,
which is why we have established a number of policies to achieve
this important objective. We are committed to ensuring that no
veteran is rough sleeping due to a lack of provision.
(Lab)
My Lords, we surely all agree, across your Lordships’ House, that
the very least we owe those who have served this country in our
Armed Forces is that at the end of their service they should have
either affordable supported housing with wraparound support or a
General Needs home. Sadly, because of the national housing
crisis, that is no longer the case. Last year, in spite of the
pledges made under Operation Fortitude, there was an increase in
homelessness among Armed Forces veterans of 14%, with 2,110
households affected, up from 1,850 the previous year. What steps
are the Government taking to join up the work done by the
Ministry of Defence, DLUHC and local government to ensure that no
one who has served our country ends up sleeping on the
streets?
(Con)
I should say first that the level of veteran homelessness remains
very low: less than 1% of households are owed a homeless duty. I
agree with everything the noble Baroness has said about the
importance of looking after our veterans. The increase can mainly
be attributed to improved recording at local authority level.
Local authorities now report on all support needs and relevant
life experiences, rather than current support needs only. She
rightly asks what we are doing. We have a large package of
measures. There is Operation Fortitude, a hotline to support
veterans into housing—the first of its kind—which has housed over
477 veterans. We have a dedicated £8 million fund, establishing
900 units of veteran supported housing. There is a whole range of
help, including online help by the Veterans UK helpline, which
helps to join up what we are doing. These different packages were
championed by Minister Mercer, but co-ordinated very much with
DLUHC and the MoD.
(Con)
My Lords, everyone regrets anyone being homeless, especially
veterans. As a veteran myself, I can say that. When I was the
Minister responsible for veterans in the Ministry of Defence,
which was immediately after the Labour Government left office,
there was a lot of talk about veteran homelessness then. I went
to see Veterans Aid, an excellent organisation that operates out
of London. The man in charge of it, an ex-RAF wing commander,
said, “Not everyone who says they’re a veteran actually is one,
but they get better treatment if they are”. Does my noble friend
agree that, as she has so rightly said, not everyone who says
they are a veteran is one, but they get better benefits if they
are?
(Con)
The way I look at it, we need to help veterans. We have the
veterans covenant, to say that those who serve or have served in
the Armed Forces, and their families, are treated fairly. It was
right that we changed the law in 2012 so that veterans with
urgent housing needs are always given high priority for social
housing. Of course, local authorities have to make sure that
people who say they are veterans are veterans, but we must move
forward and not be deterred by the odd difficultly. It is great
that so few veterans are homeless; we should celebrate that.
of Newnham (LD)
My Lords, as the Minister pointed out, it is right we ensure that
veterans are not homeless. One thing that it is important to
remember is that the vast majority of veterans transition into
civilian life without difficulty. However, for those who come
from certain backgrounds, there must be opportunities, all the
way through their serving life to talk about transitioning to
civilian life and to think about future accommodation. A recent
report funded by the Forces in Mind Trust put forward proposals
for a road map to end veteran homelessness. Has the Minister had
a chance to look at the report? Are the Government thinking about
ensuring the opportunity for service personnel, while they are
serving, to think about housing post-service?
(Con)
I have not seen the report but I would be very interested to look
at it, and I thank the noble Baroness. In my former life as a
private-sector employer in the retail industry, we had many
veterans working for us. As their term of duty comes to an end,
service personnel must look forward and think about
opportunities. The discipline that they learn in the Army, and so
many skills, can bring great things to the workforce.
(CB)
My Lords, homelessness among veterans is not an isolated issue;
very often it is connected with other problems, such as mental
health challenges. These are challenges that often present years
after veterans have left service. What action are the Government
taking to ensure that these various aspects of the problem are
being dealt with in a holistic way and not just in
stovepipes?
(Con)
I certainly agree. We try to be as holistic as possible in the
help we provide. On mental health in particular, we invest £17
million a year in an amazing scheme called Op Courage. We have
had 30,000 referrals, which shows the scale of the issue, and we
are working now with NHS England on a public awareness campaign
to promote Op Courage and what we can do in places such as GP
surgeries and trusts in the way that the noble and gallant Lord
has suggested.
(Con)
My Lords—
(Lab)
My Lords—
(Con)
My Lords, shall we hear from my noble friend Lady Lampard,
followed by the noble Lord, Lord Browne?
(Con)
My Lords, I declare my interest as the chair of GambleAware.
Veterans are 10 times more likely than non-veterans to experience
gambling harms, and to gamble as a way of coping with distress.
The financial consequences of gambling harms are more than likely
to contribute to homelessness among veterans. Third sector
organisations such as Beacon Counselling, which was commissioned
by GambleAware as part of the National Gambling Support Network,
do brilliant work to reduce the impact of the heightened risk to
the Armed Forces community. Can the Minister tell the House how
the Government intend to address the need to protect veterans
from experiencing gambling harms and, to that end, how they
intend to work in partnership with charities doing vital work in
this area?
(Con)
Veterans can access a range of support, including via the 24/7
Veterans’ Gateway, which deals with gambling, as well as housing
and so on. There is also, of course, a national gambling helpline
giving advice. There is dedicated support through Op Courage for
mental health, which is often linked to gambling. The other
things that I have mentioned can all help with this difficult
issue, which obviously goes much wider than veterans.
(Lab)
My Lords, the data that supports the conclusion that homelessness
among veterans is increasing is uniquely English data. The
Scottish data, which was most recently published in August 2023
and relates to the period between 2008 and 2022, shows that the
number of veterans assessed as homeless or, importantly, at risk
of homelessness has halved from 1,335 to 640. Would it not, on
this occasion, be an idea to find out what Scottish councils,
NGOs and the Scottish Government are doing to have achieved
this?
(Con)
I am always glad to hear of good practice, wherever it is, but,
as I tried to explain at the beginning, we have changed the way
that we are counting veteran homelessness in local authorities.
That does not mean that we should not do more or not learn from
the devolveds when they do things better. A result that halves
numbers is very good. However, as I said, there are almost no
veterans rough sleeping now, due to the variety of provision that
this Government have provided and the underpinning of the
priority that homeless veterans get for social housing, which I
think everybody supports.
(CB)
My Lords, I sometimes worry that Questions such as this convey a
wider impression that military service somehow leads to long-term
social disadvantage. That is just not the case. A glance at the
figures on the national census from England and Wales shows that,
if you have not done military service, you have a 20% chance of
reaching the age of 65 and only a 5.1% chance of passing the age
of 80. By comparison, a military veteran has a 53% chance of
reaching 65 and a 31.8% chance of passing 80—a remarkable
statistic, even by the standards of this House. Does the Minister
therefore not agree that, at a time of grave recruiting
challenges, such irresistible evidence of the life benefits of
military service should be celebrated and more widely
reported?
(Con)
I can agree that military service leads to many advantages, not
only full-time military service but working in the reserves. We
should encourage young people to look at this option.
