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TEHRAN, Jan 6 - Britain’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) is ignoring a surge in the number of homeless veterans in Scotland despite controlling hundreds of empty properties that could be used to house the former soldiers, a new report has revealed.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The report published in the Daily Express newspaper on Sunday, showed that the MoD could use the vacant homes to accommodate veterans who were grappling with various physiological and economic risks due to homelessness
Fresh figures published by the Daily Express suggested that the number of vacant MoD properties in Scotland increased from 690 in 2013 to 1136 last year. The report said many of those homes were deemed surplus and could be used to accommodate the homeless veterans.
Gordon MacDonald, a member of the Scottish National Party, said that the MoD was failing to offer enough homes to veterans despite possessing hundreds of such vacant properties in Scotland.
“Risk of homelessness is all too common among veterans, some of whom will struggle to adapt to civilian life or who may suffer from mental illness such as post traumatic stress disorder,” said MacDonald, adding, “It is not right that the number of homes left empty is skyrocketing when they could be put to use housing homeless veterans.”
Official estimates published two years ago suggested that that around 1,000 MoD properties remained vacant in Scotland.
Some of Britian's key military posts are located in Scotland, including British Army's Leuchars Station and the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The alleged carelessness of the central British government about the well-being of former soldiers comes despite efforts by the devolved Scottish government to reduce the number of homeless veterans in the region over the past years.
Recent estimates have suggested that around 130,000 former soldiers across the UK are homeless.
Source: Press TV
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