Supporting independent living

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"If it wasn't for Whitefoord House I'd be alone and on the streets" - Murdo, SVR resident.

"I get the best of care here and I still have my independence" - Stuart

Why we need Your Support

We need your support to raise £1.6m to complete our upgrading programme. We provide independent living accommodation at Whitefoord House in Edinburgh and Rosendael, Broughty Ferry, Dundee for 135 veterans of all ages.

We provide the stability to help our veterans cope with the changes that are happening in their lives and for them to live with dignity, privacy and understanding to cope with their change of environment.

Facts and Figures

In the UK approximately 500,000 people are living in B&B's, hostels or are sleeping rough on the streets. Many more who register as homeless with their local authority are living with family members. 1:4 of these people are ex-service men and women or their spouses. The residency statistics for Whitefoord House and Rosendael reveal that:

• 20% had been homeless for more than 5 years
• 49% are over 65
• 40% are 40-65 years
• 11% are under 40 years
• Almost all had been isolated, lonely or couldn't cope with living on their own
• 20% suffer from alcohol or physical health problems

We also discovered that our veterans were less likely to ask for help and assistance from the relevant agencies. The reasons for this we found were because their pride had stopped them. They had achieved much during their service life, so they would not admit that they had problems and could not cope, particularly the older veterans.

Meeting the needs of our veterans

We are building six one bedroom and five two bedroom self-contained flats at Whitefoord House, our residence in Edinburgh, to provide affordable rented accommodation for veterans of all ages. These flats will be available for rent from summer 2005. We also plan to build five self-contained flats at Rosendael, our residence at Broughty Ferry, Dundee.

With these developments we aim to provide:

• A home for those veterans who need it
• A safe, supportive community environment
• 24-hour care for those veterans who need it and to allow them to live their lives as
• independently as their disability will allow
• Supported independent living for our veterans

We have already raised some £2.4m to meet the costs of upgrading Whitefoord House in Edinburgh so that every veteran has their own fully furnished en-suite room. We need a further £1.6m to meet the costs of providing eleven flats for rent at Whitefoord House, completing the upgrading of Rosendael to fully en-suite and to build five self-contained flats.

The demand from our veterans community has never been greater for affordable accommodation and 24-hour care accommodation. With your support we can meet this demand. How you can help.