Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to prevent local authorities from evicting veterans from temporary housing if permanent housing is unavailable.

Levels of veteran homelessness are low - less than 1% of homeless households. Latest numbers for the City of York can be found within the quarterly data publication (Apr - June) available here (Table A3). This shows there were no households who had a support need due to service in the Armed Forces.

Veterans have a priority need for accommodation - which means the local authority must provide temporary accommodation until settled accommodation is secured. The Homelessness Code of Guidance, available here, provides direction to local authorities on carrying out their functions, in accordance with the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. Our team of housing advisers continue to advise and challenge local authorities to improve homelessness services.

For 22/23 local authorities have been provided with £366million through the Homelessness Prevention Grant to meet their homelessness strategies, including support for homeless veterans. City of York Council received £392,145. In addition, this Government recently announced a further £8.55m to support the delivery of new veteran supported housing.