Mary Macleod’s battle for service families gets green light from Minister

Mary Macleod’s campaign to have ex-servicemen and women given priority for social housing by Hounslow Council has received a boost from the Housing Minister who promised to end what he termed the “unfair treatment of service families”.

The MP for Brentford and Isleworth has been lobbying Government Ministers to obligate local authorities to grant ex-service personnel the highest banding on the housing list. And she has previously criticised Hounslow Council for not recognising the Armed Forces within their criteria.

Following a meeting before Christmas, Mary has received a written response from the Minister for Housing and Local Government, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, who outlined the Government’s intentions;

“I am determined to bring an end to the unfair treatment of service families in need of a social home and ensure they are given proper priority on housing waiting lists.

"That is why I shall shortly be consulting on proposals to change the law to ensure that former service men and women who have urgent housing needs are always given high priority for social housing – so that they will be at or near the top of any waiting list – and that Service personnel who move from base-to-base do not lose their qualification rights.

"More generally I intend to issue for consultation new statutory social allocations guidance which will set out the different ways in which provision can be made in councils’ allocation schemes for all serving or former members of the Armed Forces to be given appropriate priority, including through the use of local preference criteria and local lettings policies”.

Mary commented: “This is a very positive step for achieving proper recognition for those who have served our Armed Forces so bravely. After recent research showed that as many as 1,000 ex-service personnel could be sleeping rough in London alone, I believe this should be a national priority.

"I will continue to encourage the London Borough of Hounslow to give special consideration to this worthy group of individuals who contribute so much to this country.”

January 12, 2012