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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support current and ex-service personnel to find a home.

We are determined to ensure that current and former members of the Armed Forces gain the housing they deserve, recognising the sacrifices they have made for the country in line with the commitment of the Covenant.

We therefore changed the law by regulation in 2012 to ensure that seriously injured serving personnel and former members of the Armed Forces with urgent housing needs are always given ‘additional preference’ (high priority) for social housing; and councils are prevented from applying local connection requirements to disqualify members of the Armed Forces and those within 5 years of leaving the Services from their waiting list.

Our 2012 statutory social allocations guidance goes further and sets out how councils’ allocation schemes can give priority to all Service families, including through the use of local preference criteria and local lettings policies.

We also introduced measures to make it easier for those with aspirations of home ownership to own their own home. This includes giving former Service personnel and their surviving partners priority for government funded shared ownership schemes for 12 months after service which has now been extended to 24 months. They are also able to access Government-funded home ownership schemes including Help to Buy.

We are also removing the age restriction for eligibility for starter homes which allows homes to be sold at a 20% discount to market value for eligible first time buyers, for injured military services personnel and bereaved spouses.