How we fail our brave ex soldiers

THE death of former soldier Darren Greenfield, who was sleeping rough on the streets of Edinburgh, is a tragedy that should shame us all.

It was rightly slammed by veterans’ charities as yet another example of how we let down our ex-service personnel.

Clearly this is true. But 47-yearold Darren’s case also highlights the complexity of homelessness. His family have now explained that, far from abandoning him, they had tried for years to help. Crucially, his sister managed to get him housed but Darren found it too difficult and went back on the streets.

I saw this many times when I worked with homeless people in Central London. Until then, I’d wrongly assumed — as many do — that all homeless people needed was a home. But it’s far, far more complicated than that.

The vast majority of rough sleepers have serious mental health problems that make living in mainstream society so difficult that some prefer the streets.

In order for them to stay off the streets, they need a lot of support from mental health services — but this is woefully lacking. The situation is particularly dire for veterans, who make up about a quarter of the UK’s homeless.

People assume that the main mental health problem affecting veterans is post traumatic stress disorder but a large study in The Lancet showed that, overall, this affects only around 4 per cent. Yet depression and anxiety were far higher than expected.

How many more will have to die on the streets before something is done to support this group?