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<p>Local authorities share in our national commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant,
and have signed Community Covenants committing to support the Armed Forces community
in their area and promote understanding amongst local people. Local councils and residents
will know the needs of their communities and can decide their spending priorities
appropriately.<br><br>We have introduced a number of measures over the last few years
as contribution towards meeting the objectives of the Armed Forces Covenant to ensure
that the Armed Forces Community does not face disadvantage, patricularly in housing.
This includes:<br><br><strong>Funding for local authorities</strong><br><br>We have
set aside £200,000 in 2014/15 from the annual Disabled Facilities Grant funding for
local authorities to fund home adaptations (eg ramps, walk-in showers, stairlifts)
to meet the needs of disabled ex-service personnel who wish to live independently
in their homes.<br><br>We have provided grants (totalling over £1 million) with MOD,
to a small number of local authorities in 2011 and 2012 to support the successful
integration of retired Gurkha soldiers who wished to settle in the UK.<br><br><strong>Improved
access to social housing</strong><br><br>We have introduced protection to ensure that
former and current Service personnel are not disadvantaged in accessing social housing
because of the disadvantages of military life. We have made sure that seriously injured
personnel and former members of the Armed Forces with urgent housing needs are always
given high priority for social housing, and that serving personnel and those who have
recently been discharged do not lose their qualification rights because of the requirement
to move from base to base.<br><br>We have also encouraged local authorities to, in
general, give sympathetic consideration to the housing needs of family members of
serving or former Service personnel.<br><br><strong>Preventing homelessness</strong><br><br>We
have introduced measures to provide support for specialist accommodation for veterans,
and work with councils to prevent homelessness. We have also introduced initiatives
such as Streetlink and No Second Night Out which ensure that when veterans end up
sleeping rough they are offered care and support from local services.<br><br><strong>Access
to home ownership</strong><br><br>Members of the Armed Forces have been given priority
for Government-funded shared ownership schemes and are able to access Help to Buy:
equity loan scheme. The priority status can be transferred to bereaved spouses or
civil partners. We have also worked with MOD, credit reference agencies, and Royal
Mail to standardise Forces' Post Office addresses so personnel are not disadvantaged
when applying for mortgages.<br><br></p>
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