Burnham: No one who has served our country should sleep rough on our streets

Andy Burnham is calling on councils across England to develop urgent plans to offer accommodation to any veterans sleeping rough ahead of the Christmas period.

In a personal letter to local authority chief executives ahead of Armistice Day, the prime minister urges national government and local government to work together on the principle that “no one who has served our country should ever be left to sleep on the streets”.

The government is keen for councils to use part of the money the government has recently made available for tackling rough sleeping and homelessness to specifically target support at veterans.

Prime Minister 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.

“People who stepped forward prepared to put their lives on the line for the rest of us should never lack a roof over their head. When they need help, the country owes them more than warm words. It owes them a bed every night, a proper plan and someone in their corner from day one.

“Many councils are already doing a great job working with charities supporting the ex-forces community. 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.

“This is what I meant when I spoke about putting the right standards back at the heart of the country when I walked up Downing Street for the first time.”

To supplement the work of councils, £8.7 million is being allocated to eight organisations across the United Kingdom, including in Scotland, Liverpool and Kent, as part of the Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme. This funding will help local housing providers offer assistance to veterans with complex needs, including health, addiction and employment services.

To help deliver the new commitment, the prime minister is urging any veterans who are sleeping rough, or those supporting them, to call the UK-wide helpline on 0800 9520774. It will be able to connect them directly with housing and other specialist support.

The helpline has already supported more than 1,250 veterans into housing to date.

Organisations being allocated the £8.7 million of funding include:

• Veteran Housing Scotland
• Launchpad
• Alabare
• The Riverside Group
• Wigan Council
• RBVE
• SSAFA, The Armed Forces Charity
• Tom Harrison House

Commenting on the proposals, Lee Buss-Blair, Director of Operations and Group Veteran Lead, at Riverside, said: “We warmly welcome the prime minister’s commitment to end rough sleeping for every veteran who has served their country.

“Many veterans affected by rough sleeping feel comfortable accessing homelessness services and supported housing close to their current local area, meaning they will be helped by the prime minister’s pledge to end rough sleeping which has so far been backed by an overall funding commitment of £4.4bn.

“Some veterans, particularly those with complex needs such as PTSD, mental health challenges, and physical disabilities need to access specialist homelessness services for veterans.

“As such we are grateful to see the government commit much-needed funding to the Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme as we know specialist veteran services transform the lives of hundreds of British military veterans every year.

“Since we began running the Op FORTITUDE helpline in 2023 it has helped support more than 1,200 veterans, which equates to around eight homeless veterans being supported into housing every single week

“We are greatly heartened that the prime minister will write to every council in England on Armistice Day to ask them to create specific plans to offer accommodation for veterans sleeping rough ahead of the Christmas period. We look forward to working with councils to help create and implement plans to get veterans off our streets.”