Funding body: Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA)
Maximum value: £500,000
Grants for charities and registered social housing providers with at least five year’s housing experience to support new builds and significant refurbishments, including extensions, of rental accommodation offering high quality support for veterans with a housing need.
This is a major grants programme. The funding will support capital projects that support new builds, significant refurbishment, or extension of accommodation for veterans.
The funding is for projects that will:
- Enable major refurbishments of existing social rented or affordable rented homes for veterans.
- Enable extensions of existing buildings to increase the availability of veteran housing.
- Increase the number of new build, homes/housing units available to veterans at affordable or social rents.
- Ensure properties meet decent homes and energy efficiency standards.
Projects need to support veterans at risk and longer-term change that will last beyond the life of the grant.
Priority will be given to:
- Single Veterans
- Veterans and their families, including veterans who have shared custody arrangements for their children.
- Veterans with disabilities or limited long-term health conditions.
- Homeless, including rough sleeping Veterans.
- Female Veterans
- LGBT Veterans
- Veterans leaving prison.
Value Notes
Grants of between £75,000 and £500,000 are available across four rounds of funding.
Larger grants of between £500,000 and £1 million are available for exceptional projects if they meet additional criteria. Larger grants will require secured match funding of at least 30% at the time of application.
Grant recipients will have two years to complete their project.
To be eligible, applicants must:
- Have at least five years’ relevant social housing experience.
- Be able to show the majority of their organisation’s work is with veterans or the predominant beneficiaries of this specific project would be veterans.
- Have ownership of the facility or a lease of 10 or more years.
- Have a minimum of three unrelated trustees (for charities) or directors (for CICs).
The funding is intended to help with the costs of refurbishment or extension of accommodation facilities linked to:
- Transitional homeless Veteran housing
- Accommodation or facilities in a Veteran care homes where the provision would be specifically and clearly for Veterans.
- Accommodation or facilities in long-term, Veteran supported rented housing for Veterans with additional needs such as mobility disabilities which mean that their access to appropriate housing is limited.
- Social housing.
The grant can be used to pay for most things needed for the project and could include the following costs:
- Direct building costs relating to the building project.
- Staff time for this fixed-term project to manage it effectively.
- Professional fees that are directly related to their building project, such as qualified project managers.
How To Apply
There will be four rounds of funding with a two-stage application process:
- The first stage is to submit an Expressions of Interest.
- Those who are successful at stage one will be invited to submit a second stage, full application.
The deadlines of Expressions of Interest are 17:00:
- 19th June 2024 – Round 2 (notification of decisions by 30 September 2024)
- 3rd January 2025 – Round 3 (notification of decisions by 31 March 2025)
- 16th June 2025 – Round 4 (notification of decisions by 30 September 2025)
The guidance notes, faqs and online application form can be found on the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’s website.
Contact the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust for further information;
Major Capital Grants Programme : Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust
For further information on how to obtain this fund, please contact the following:
- Enquiries
Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust
3rd Floor, 3 Wellington Place
Leeds
LS1 4AP
Email: info@covenantfund.org.uk