Veterans Project Series: Matthew
Earlier this year, Action Homeless opened a dedicated project which provides veterans experiencing homelessness with high quality housing, support and opportunities to build connections with the community in Leicester.
The housing project – ‘Helping Veterans Towards Home’ – provides six freshly renovated living spaces to veterans without a home. The property, owned by Action Homeless, has been completely refurbished with a grant from The Armed Forces Covenant Trust, thanks to the Office for Veterans’ Affairs’ Veterans’ Capital Housing Fund.
You can find more information on the project here.
This series of case studies shares the stories of people who have benefited from the support of our dedicated Veterans Project.
Matthew found himself with no safe place to call home after a relationship breakdown and ended up sleeping in his car for a period of time. He had served active duty in the military for a large portion of his life, including in The Parachute Regiment. He sought out support over the winter from the Royal British Legion, who helped provide him with emergency temporary accommodation.
When Matthew was referred to Action Homeless for dedicated veterans support and housing, his main need was a safe and stable home. His key worker also addressed his mental health and physical health needs, which had deteriorated in the time that he had been rough sleeping.
He was supported to access funding for dental care that he needed, as well as referred to partner agencies in Leicester such as Turning Point to help with his substance use issues
With dedicated and personalised support from the team at Action Homeless, and safe and stable temporary accommodation in our bespoke veteran’s project, Matthew was in a position to start looking at options for moving on to more permanent accommodation. With support from his Key Worker Matthew was able to secure long-term stable accommodation in a dedicated over 55’s property. Matthew is now enjoying settling in to his new community. He has two children who are both in the Navy, and he keeps in regular contact with them.