How to apply for housing

1. Check your eligibility The main eligibility criteria are that you need to have a British Armed Forces connection and are in housing need

Eligibility:

Regular Armed Forces connection (any rank or rating) Served for a minimum of three years or been discharged early through redundancy/medical grounds Been given a discharge date within six months, if still currently serving In certain circumstances those who have served in the Reserve Forces, the Merchant Navy or Fishing fleets may be eligible. Please contact us to check this. A widow/er (with or without dependants) of a person who would have been eligible as above A separated or divorced spouse / partner /civil partner (with or without dependants) of a Service person (serving or former) Housing need is defined as:

You are currently homeless, threatened with homelessness, inadequately or inappropriately housed or other circumstances which mean you need to move You are without the financial resources to rent, or continue to rent, in the private sector or to buy your own home Your current housing will be assessed and taken into account

Please see the Applications and Property Allocation Guide for further information

2. Before you apply If you have a question about your eligibility please contact the Housing Operations team.

Please see the ‘Where do you want to live?’ page for property location, availability and vacancies

You can make an application even if we don’t currently have vacant properties in the area you want to live in. Simply enter your desired locations (use the Property Location Map to identify these) in Section 5 on the application form.

Your application is for you to be added to our Housing Register. Applicants are matched to vacant properties when they become available.

Haig Housing does not offer sheltered, residential or nursing home accommodation – here are details of other support organisations which provide housing for veterans

3. Information needed to complete your application Whilst filling out the application form, make sure you have referred to or downloaded the following documents:

Property Location Map Guide to Bedroom and Occupancy Levels Privacy Notice for Applicants

As part of your application we ask for your National Insurance number. As a number that is unique to yourself, we ask for this information to ensure that no duplicate application forms are submitted. This information will be stored securely in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We are aware that this is a long form however it is important that you should answer all of the questions relevant to your application and read all sections carefully.

If you require any assistance whilst filling out this form please contact the Housing Operations team.

4. Making your application If you are confident that you meet the eligibility criteria, please download the application form. Please download this as an Adobe Acrobat Document and save it onto your computer before completing it. Once you’ve completed the form and saved it, please then email the form as an attachment. Please note that applications can take up to 4 weeks to process Alternatively, you can download and print a paper copy of the form and send it to Mountbarow House, 12 Elizabeth Street, London, SW1W 9RB or you can call and request an application pack be sent to you in the post.

5. What happens next? You will receive a written response within 4 weeks letting you know if you have been accepted onto our Housing Register and the reason why if not.

Once you are on our Housing Register, we will contact you when a suitable property becomes available and we’ll then request further key information to support your application e.g. proof of service in the Armed Forces, details of income and proof of your right to rent.

If you do not hear from us for some time, this will be because we do not currently have any properties which suit your requirements. Once a property becomes available we will contact you. Your details will be kept on the Housing Register for two years.

Haig Housing Association owns and manages over 5000 affordable homes across the East of England region in areas including East of England, Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.