Information for councils, housing providers and support organisations

A specific training module on the housing needs of military veterans has been created by Warwickshire County Council and is available as open source training via the Armed Forces Covenant website. All staff within local authority housing departments, housing association and homeless charities are encouraged to undertake this free resource. Best practice is to take this further by creating a network of staff who have undertaken this training and then identify themselves as armed forces champions, advocating for Forces people, keeping themselves up to date on Forces issues and helping to support veterans as they interact with your organisation.

Leading veteran housing charity Stoll Housing have created a project called No Homeless Veterans which works with local authorities to encourage housing staff to ‘Think Veteran’ by identifying and supporting military veterans. This project has created an extensive Resources page which details information on a support Toolkit, a Directory of Housing Support Services for Veterans, an on-line training resource, posters & leaflets and finally links to research on the housing needs of veterans.

Stoll Housing also run the Veterans Nomination Scheme which is aimed mainly at single people and couples without children who would not normally be able to get social housing. This includes people who are sleeping on a friend’s sofa, living in a hostel or are in supported housing. Stoll can also help find accommodation for Service Leavers who are making the transition to civilian life. The Veterans’ Nomination Scheme is only suitable for Veterans who can live independently with very little support. Any organisation that works with Veterans can make a referral to the VNS team, but they are unable to take referrals direct from Veterans.