Leaving the armed forces and becoming homeless

If you are leaving the armed forces or have recently left, contact us as early as possible if you think you may become homeless.

You may be able to get additional help, but this will depend on your circumstances.

Before you leave the armed forces

If you are due to be discharged, try to get housing advice before you leave.

We can assess your situation and explain your options so you are better prepared.

If you apply for homelessness help, we will assess your situation using the same rules that apply to everyone.

This includes looking at whether:

You may be considered to be in priority need if you are vulnerable.

If you are a former member of the armed forces, we will consider whether your service has made you more vulnerable.

For example, we may look at:

We will assess your circumstances to decide whether you are more vulnerable than someone else who is homeless.

We may decide that you are intentionally homeless if you lost your previous accommodation because of something you deliberately did or failed to do.

This may affect the level of help we can provide.

We may consider whether you have a local connection to the area.

This could include:

Time spent serving in an area does not always count as a local connection.

There may also be restrictions on where you can live, for example if conditions have been placed on you after leaving the forces.

If you have nowhere to stay after leaving the armed forces, you may need to use emergency accommodation such as:

Temporary accommodation is not guaranteed. We will assess your circumstances to decide whether we have a duty to provide it.

You may need to consider more than one housing option.

This could include:

You may be able to get help from organisations that support current and former members of the armed forces.

This includes organisations that can help with: