Homelessness

The information below is for British armed forces veterans who need to find somewhere to live.

If you are at risk of becoming homeless

Veterans' Gateway offers advice to veterans on a range of housing and support needs.

If you think you'll be made homeless in the next 56 days (8 weeks) and can't find somewhere to live, you can approach any local council in England and make a homeless application. The council will look into your needs and make a Personal Housing Plan to help with your housing problem.

The plan will include actions we can take, working together with you, such as negotiating with your landlord, getting debt advice, maximising benefits, providing interest-free loans or help to find work or training. We also have 'homelessness prevention' schemes for specific circumstances.

If you are homeless now

We will decide whether you have a 'priority need'. To find out more, go to Shelter: priority need.

If you do have a priority need, we will also check whether you need any extra levels of support or care, taking into account your experiences in the forces and the effect they have had on you. We will arrange temporary accommodation for you while we work with you to find somewhere that meets your needs.

Whether you have a priority need or not, we will try to relieve your homelessness for a period of 56 days (8 weeks).

Getting on the Thurrock housing register

Council housing is in very short supply in Thurrock, but we will consider you eligible if either:

• you are a serving member of the armed forces
• you have been discharged from the forces within the last 5 years
• you are a bereaved spouse and are leaving services' family accommodation
• you are a former or serving member of the reserve forces who needs to move because of an injury or illness that resulted from your service

You will need to provide proof of your eligibility. We will give additional priority by backdating your time on the waiting list by your (or your partner's) total length of time serving in the forces. This will lift your priority above applicants in similar circumstances, but who are not armed forces veterans.

If you are still serving and can provide evidence of when your military service will end, you can ask for this priority to be added to your application up to 6 months before your end date.