The Labour Party celebrated on Wednesday that it had forced the reversal of a primary housing deal for the armed forces workforce, leaving dozens of veterans homeless. Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey joined veterans at a Stoll residential complex in London in their attempt to keep their comrades off the streets. He paid tribute to Ben Coleman, the Labour parliamentary candidate for Chelsea and Fulham, who campaigned hard to help those affected by selling their homes to Chelsea FC. In a new £80 million deal, the Premiership club is buying Stoll Mansions, which houses more than a hundred veterans, 42 of whom became homeless because they had “short-term leases”.
But local councillor and Labour candidate for Parliament, Mr Coleman, along with the veterans, convinced Stoll to ensure that all veterans got new housing. The Stoll Complex has been home to veterans for more than a hundred years, but only those who have been there for more than five years are “rent-assured. “
After the arrival of the Labour Party, Stoll made sure to secure a nearby site so that all citizens could stay there. Healey told the Mirror: “I have to pay tribute to Ben Coleman’s hard work to make this happen and to ensure that veterans are not left homeless.
“What he did was huge: he went into the organisation, he went into Chelsea FC and the club agreed to a break until the citizens were taken care of. They were very supportive and agreed with Ben to take a break until the right arrangements were made. “instead.
“The biggest challenge was that the Stoll organization decided to raise money for the charity and lost sight of the locals, they lost sight of the network that supports each other.
“They were destroying a network and leaving four dozen other people homeless. This is a rare day to celebrate good news, as times are tough for everyone and especially for the other people of Stoll who have lived the risk of wasting this beautiful place.
Local council deputy chairman Mr Coleman added: “We have a duty of care to each and every local resident and this is the right thing to do. We owe it to those veterans to make sure they are accommodated and to work hard to identify communication between them, the club and Stoll. “I am very happy that we have won this victory and that no citizens will be evicted. But the fight does not stop that. In the coming months we will work intensively with Stoll to ensure that new local housing is developed for veterans, and I will make the organization housing charity delivers on its promises. If I win a seat in the election, I hope to bring some of this increased influence to further ensure that its situation is smart and that I have no plans to stop it. Stoll CEO Will Campbell-Wroe , told the Mirror: “We continue to make progress on the sale of the majority of the Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions site to Chelsea FC and plan to share further details on this in the coming weeks. “We are also on the right track. We are in the process of getting new, higher quality housing with housing for veterans in the area, where our citizens will get greater support. “If citizens decide to move somewhere other than ‘A Stoll active when they leave the Fulham site we will continue ” “
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