MEN and women leaving the armed forces need better support to prevent them becoming homeless, according to a Glasgow MSP.

James Dornan, Cathcart SNP MSP said there was a real need to ensure ex-service men and women didn’t become homeless. He said he had noticed many had no home of their own and were reliant on family or friends putting them up.

Research has shown that ex-forces personnel are more likely to be homeless than the rest of the population, with debt, mental health problems and post traumatic stress.

Many do not have wide social support networks and may also find it difficult to adjust to civilian life and are more likely  to suffer unemployment.

He has contacted every housing association in the city asking for a number of dedicated lets to be set side for veterans.

Mr Dornan said, so far, Glasgow Housing Association has responded with a pledge to identify 10 homes for ex-service personnel.

The MSP said he was delighted with the response and hopes it will encourage others to follow their example.

He said: “I had seen the amount of veterans who had struggled to get housing.

“Most would be couch surfing and have no settled home. I wrote to every housing association asking them to take into account the needs of veterans. I am delighted with GHA’s response. 

“Ten homes from Glasgow’s biggest landlord is a great start an I hope others will be equally positive.”

He said most had said they took into account veterans circumstances and some gave them a higher priority but Mr Dornan said that a number of ring fenced homes would really make a difference.

In his response to Mr Dornan, Martin Armstrong, chief executive of Wheatley Group, said that veterans were given group two “prevention of homelessness” status which gave them priority for housing allocation.

However, he said he agreed with the MSP that specific allocations  could help.

Martin Armstrong said: “We’ve always given as much support as we can to help veterans settle back into civilian life, including with their housing.

“But we thought Mr Dornan’s idea to support people coming out of the armed forces by setting aside a guaranteed number of homes was a good one. 

“We’re delighted to earmark 10 homes a year to help.”

Mr Dornan hopes to widen the campaign across other areas of Scotland and will be looking to contact hosuiand associations and council housing departments.