Burnham sets a new principle on veteran homelessness: no one who served should sleep rough

The Prime Minister is to write personally to councils across England on Armistice Day, 11 November, asking each of them to draw up a specific plan for offering accommodation to veterans sleeping rough in the run-up to Christmas. The commitment, announced on 7 November ahead of Remembrance Sunday, sets a standing principle for both national and local government: that no one who has served the country should ever be left to sleep on the streets.

Andy Burnham said: “No one who has served our country should be left to sleep rough on our streets. It is a simple principle and, from now on, I am setting it as an operating principle for the whole of government, national and local.” He added that those who had stepped forward, ready to risk their lives for everyone else, should never be left without a roof over their head, and that when they asked for help the country owed them practical support rather than warm words alone: “a bed every night, a proper plan”, with someone in their corner from the first day.

The letter will ask councils to use part of the Government's rough sleeping funding to draw up their plans, working with local organisations and charities that support the ex-forces community. The wider commitment to end rough sleeping is backed by an additional £874 million, taking overall funding to a record £4.4 billion, and follows the instruction he gave on entering Downing Street, to end rough sleeping in the country. The Government says the veterans drive is consistent with the commitments in the Armed Forces Covenant, which most councils have signed.

Photograph: Mainlymazza, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

No one who has served our country should be left to sleep rough on our streets. It is a simple principle and, from now on, I am setting it as an operating principle for the whole of government, national and local.Andy Burnham, Prime Minister

Alongside the council plans, £8.7 million is being allocated to eight organisations across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland, Liverpool and Kent, under the Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme. The money is intended to help housing providers offer targeted housing, employment and health support to veterans, including assistance for those with complex needs, among them health and addiction services. The organisations receiving a share are Veteran Housing Scotland; Launchpad; Alabare; The Riverside Group; Wigan Council; RBVE; SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity; and Tom Harrison House.

Ministers are also urging veterans who are sleeping rough, and those supporting them, to use the UK-wide helpline that connects callers directly with housing and other specialist support. The helpline, known as Op FORTITUDE, has so far helped more than 1,250 veterans into housing.

Photograph: Mikey, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The Prime Minister argued that the funding now available changes what councils can be asked to do. “Many councils are already doing a great job working with charities supporting the ex-forces community,” he said. “With this new funding, they can take that to the next level and end the need for any veteran to sleep rough on any night.” Whether the principle becomes practice will be tested first by the plans councils produce in response to the Armistice Day letter, and then by whether veterans are in fact offered accommodation before Christmas.