Veterans Project Series: Paul
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.
Paul found himself with no safe place to stay after a relationship breakdown. Despite having a large extended family, he did not want to make himself a burden on any of them and as a result stayed in hotels for a short period of time after losing his home. This became too much for Paul to afford, and he ended up sleeping in his car over winter. Paul is of retirement age but spent almost 20 years in the catering corps in the military when he was younger.
Paul was referred to our dedicated veteran’s support and accommodation by outreach team in Leicester. On arriving at Action Homeless he was provided with safe and secure temporary accommodation, and his Key Worker worked with him to find out what his immediate and long-term needs were.
Paul was referred to an accessible GP close to him to manage some of his long-term health issues, which included COPD. Paul was also connected with specific support for veterans from the Royal British Legion in Loughborough.
With support from his Key Worker Paul was able to move on to more permanent accommodation, a Housing Association bungalow which was necessary for his long-term health and mobility needs. He was also supported to get white goods and other essentials to make his new house a home.
Paul is now enjoying settling in to his new property, and his son has also moved in to help support him with his long-term care needs. Paul is now enjoying a comfortable safe home that meets his needs and enjoys going fishing in the local area.