Housing for troops is a Government priority
Members of the Armed Forces will from now on be given top priority for housing help Housing Minister Grant Shapps has said today, Friday 20 May 2011.
Service accommodation at Swinton Barracks, Perham Down (stock image) [Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
The move follows a Military Covenant Housing Summit chaired by the Housing Minister on Monday, and means that serving members of the Armed Forces, as well as those recently retired, will be able to benefit from the FirstBuy Scheme, providing £400m to help 10,000 families across the country get on the property ladder over the next two years.
The Minister has also signalled that the Government will ensure that all low-cost home ownership schemes will now routinely place members of the Armed Forces at the top of their priority lists, and that government housing agents will be instructed to go out and actively recruit military personnel for such schemes.
Service accommodation at Woolwich, South East London (stock image) [Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
The news comes in addition to work between the Government, credit agencies and the Royal Mail (who set postcodes on which many credit ratings are based) to ensure that those living on a base or serving abroad are not disadvantaged when applying for a mortgage.
Mr Shapps said:
This Government is not in the business of giving out pointless sympathy or hand-outs. Instead, we’re pulling out all the stops to give our brave Armed Forces a helping hand onto the property ladder.