More than £8.5 million has been pledged to ensure that absolutely no veteran should sleep rough this Christmas and veteran homelessness is ended in 2023.
The funding, announced by Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer MP, will support more than 900 veteran supported housing units. The units will provide specialist help from former armed forces personnel.
In addition, funding has been made available to support a homelessness pathway called Op FORTITUDE which will ensure that every veteran at risk of homelessness knows where to access information.
Dean recently met with the Veterans Minister to record a message to promote the veterans survey. In the video, Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer gave thanks to Luther Blissett and local veterans campaigners for their work locally.
Following the announcement, Dean said, “This is very welcome news from the Minister, and I am so proud that the UK Government has made this essential announcement to support our incredible veterans. I have raised a number of issues relating to veterans in Parliament including recently when raising the medals for armed forces personnel involved in nuclear tests.
Since being elected I have lobbied consistently for funding to end rough sleeping across our town and have helped secure over £4 million. This funding, including the recent £1.5 million awarded to Watford Borough Council from the Government’s Rough Sleepers Initiative earlier in the year has helped local organisations work on the ground to almost completely end rough sleeping this past two years. I am grateful to New Hope and OneYMCA in particular for all their efforts to make this a reality.
When attending Armed Forces Covenant training earlier this year I was informed that Watford has had a track record over decades of ensuring no veteran has to rough sleep on our streets. I am pleased to know this announcement will mean that will be true everywhere across the UK too.
If any veteran needs support, there is a charity helpline available for them to access straight away.”
