Welcome to the housing section - probably one of the most
important area of interest to service personnel when they leave the
forces. As part of the resettlement process, an initial
housing plan should have been identified with you but, if you are
reading this page, it may be that you are now in need of support
with your housing needs.
When you are serving, generally MoD does a pretty good job of
making sure that you have somewhere to stay, either in the barrack
blocks, quarters, off site housing or even on board your
ship.
Once outside of the wire, you are on your own with regards to
finding suitable accommodation for yourself and possibly your
family. In this section, we will direct you to a
comprehensive range of housing and accommodation options, and
provide any additional support that you may need to secure
temporary or permanent accommodation for you and your family.
There are many options available to you and there are many
ex-service organisations geared up to provide specialist support
and accommodation to all service leavers.
By far the best source of information to you about
service-related accommodation is from the excellent Scottish
Veterans Housing Assocation, which links every service housing
initiative for veterans across Scotland. These range from
private rooms in multiple occupancy residencies, to private houses
or flats. Go to the housing section on www.veteransscotland.co.uk
to find out more.
Some ex-service personnel have problems related to starting
up, maintaining or the legal aspects of their contract with
their landlord. V1P has a strategic partnership with Shelter
Scotland to provide direct advice to individuals via a self
referral or through the case support work side of our
service. Please contact us directly or visit the Shelter Scotland website (click
here).
Additionally, there are substantial mainstream housing options
available for all members of the public which you are able to
access.
Within Edinburgh area, City of Edinburgh
Council provides a comprehensive list of housing options
available.
There is also independent Housing Advice through "ehap" -
Edinburgh Housing Advice Partnership which links the efforts of
CHAI, GIC, Four Square and Move On housing support
organisations. EHAP are on 0845 302 4607 or www.ehap.org.uk
In Edinburgh, if you are homeless you will always be able to
apply for emergency accommodation by contacting The Access
Point on 0131 529 7438 or dropping in at 17 - 23
Leith Street.
The Access Point is a co-location of health,
housing and social work services with the healthcare aspects
provided by the Edinburgh Access Practice
(NHS).
If you live in West Lothian, you can specialist support via
The Advice Shop.
Please say you are a veteran and you can obtain fixed appointment
times with a named worker.
It is likely that you will fall into one of the following
catagories and, by following the links, you can find out what
housing support is available to you in the Lothians and wider
afield.