Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to “house all veterans in housing need” in his speech at the Labour Party Conference.
Speaking in Liverpool earlier today, Starmer said: “We will repay those who served us and house all veterans in housing need. Homes will be there for heroes.”
He said the government had “started the hard yards of planning reform” and was introducing “new planning passports that will turbocharge housebuilding in our inner cities”.
Starmer added that the government can “make the very same promise to other people at risk of homelessness”, singling out young care leavers and victims of domestic abuse as two examples.
“They will have the security they deserve. They will have a roof over their head,” he said.
No specific details were shared at the time of how veterans would be housed.
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According to government figures, there are around 2.4 million veterans in the UK, which is defined as anyone who served for at least one day in the armed forces either as a regular or reserve or was a merchant mariner who has seen “duty on legally defined military operations”.
Figures suggest that around 75% of veterans own a home or have a mortgage, and it is estimated that 3-6% of those sleeping rough have served in the armed forces.
The latest rough sleeping figures, covering autumn 2023 and published in February this year, estimate that there were 3,898 people sleeping rough on a single night during that period. This is up 27% on 2022 figures.
Stable economy ‘first step of long-term plan’ but difficult decisions ahead
Starmer reiterated that stabilising the economy was the “first step of this long-term plan”, adding that he recognised that “many of the decisions we must take will be unpopular”.
“If they were popular – they’d be easy. But the cost of filling that black hole in our public finances, that will be shared fairly,” he said.
Starmer said there “there will be no stone left unturned” and “no innovation ignored”, noting that there would be “no return to Tory austerity”.
“We will rebuild our public services, protect working people, and do this in a Labour way. And that is a promise,” he said.
Starmer acknowledged criticism over changes to the Winter Fuel Payment, but reiterated that “if this path were popular or easy, we would have walked it already”.
