Julian Huppert marks Homeless Day by tackling government on the issue
Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, Julian Huppert, marked World Homeless Day by questioning the government on its record of tackling homelessness among ex-servicemen and women.
He asked Defence Minister, Andrew Robathan what progress the government had made in dealing with the issue.
Julian’s question came a week after he visited Cambridge’s newly launched FLACK magazine for the homeless in City Life House, Sturton Street and became one of its first 50 subscribers.
In response to Julian’s question, Mr Robathan acknowledged that there are homeless ex-service personnel but said “in fact their number is much less than one might expect”.
“Analysis has shown that those ex-service personnel who are homeless very often left the forces some 20 and more years before.”
Later Julian said:
“The issue here is not when or how the ex-service personnel became homeless but the fact that they are living on the streets. These are people who have put their lives at risk to serve their country and they deserve better.
“The government must look at this issue seriously and take steps to ensure that when ex-service personnel leave the forces they get the proper support and counselling, if needed, to return to civilian life.
“I am certain there is so much more we could do as a country to tackle homelessness in general. There is a whole raft of reasons why people end up on the streets and we should be giving them support to deal with these underlying issues.”
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