Estate agent offers to house homeless veterans

An estate agent is offering homeless ex-service personnel the chance to move into empty properties free of charge.

Paul Banning, who runs Belle Vue Estates Property Management in Low Fell, Gateshead, was moved to act after reading on social media about the plight of an Army veteran who was living on the streets in Wales.

The 53-year-old immediately thought about the homes on his books that were available to rent and wrote a Facebook post offering help to ex-service personnel.

It said: "I have a number of empty properties in the North East, any ex-service personnel living on the streets or need a roof over their heads please contact me asap and you can have the keys with no fees."

The veterans could live in the property for free until a housing benefit claim came through. Having a permanent address would allow them to look for work, he said.

The response has been "unbelievable", he said, with thousands of people sharing his post. He will meet charities that help ex-service personnel and has had offers of furniture and tradesmen want to help renovate properties.

He hoped other estate agents around the country would help.

Banning explained: "I saw a photo of a guy in Wales who had only been out of the Army for 12 weeks and he was sitting on a street corner with a blanket on. It really frustrated me. He had served his country and there he was, sitting on a street corner."

Banning said his firm had 27 empty properties in the North East.

He added: "There are genuinely people who haven't anywhere to go. Ex-servicemen, through no fault of their own, are coming out of the military with illnesses, whatever they may be, and are finding it hard to get back into Civvy Street.

"I'm going to do my best to try to help them."

The firm can be contacted at enquiries@bellevueestates.co.uk or by ringing 0191 491 3940.

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