Meet Veteran Housing Group, our newest partner
Leaving service is not always a clean break.
For some it goes smoothly. For others, life gets in the way, and the fall can be quick and quiet. A relationship breaks down, work dries up, the structure that held everything together disappears, and before long someone who served their country is sofa-surfing or worse, with no clear way back.
Recently we visited the first London hub of Veteran Housing Group and met the people behind it. We came away hugely impressed, and wanting to do whatever we can to support them. This is work that matters, and we wanted to tell you about it.
Not charity. A plan.
Chad Maskell founded Veteran Housing Group, and as a British Army veteran who has built more than one organisation serving the forces community, he knows the ground he is standing on. He put it to us plainly: veterans do not need pity, they need guidance, clear direction and a plan.
It is a simple idea with a lot behind it. The practical side of leaving service is overwhelming on its own. After decades in uniform, the civilian world suddenly asks for a set of skills nobody needed before: navigating a benefits system that is complicated by design, hunting for work, writing a CV from scratch. Then there is the part Vikki, their clinical lead, sees hit hardest of all, the loss of belonging. A former army medic who has spent years since supporting veterans as a welfare officer and a qualified psychotherapist, she has seen this from every side. The uniform gave you a team, an identity and a place in the world, and when it goes, a lot of veterans lose their footing without quite knowing why.
Veteran Housing Group exists to give that footing back. Not with sympathy, but with structure, the one thing the military gives you and civilian life so often takes away.
How it works
In the military, if there is a problem with your pay, you see the clerk and it gets sorted. If you are short of kit, it gets issued. There is a clear person, a clear process, a door to knock on. Civvy street does not work like that. You speak to one organisation about housing, another about benefits, a different service for employment, someone else again for mental health support. Knowing where to go is a minefield in itself, and that is before you have managed to ask for anything.
This is where Veteran Housing Group changes things. They are a one-stop shop. Rather than sending a veteran off to chase a dozen different doors, they help them access all of it from one place. The support is deliberately short-term and focused, built to get someone steady and moving again rather than to keep them in the system: a roof over their head, wellbeing support, help navigating benefits, and a route back into work. Everything a veteran needs to find their feet, joined up and under one roof.
For Chad, the order matters. Housing comes first, because everything else is built on it. Get someone into calm, safe accommodation and you have laid the foundation, and only then do the support workers and pathways move into gear, guiding each veteran through training and upskilling, into temporary and then permanent work, and on towards their own move-on accommodation. The aim is never to keep a veteran in the system, it is to get them out of it, back on their own two feet, empowered and independent.
Housing a veteran is where life starts.
The way in is simple. Anyone can refer a veteran, and veterans can refer themselves. The only criteria are that you have served, and that you are on Universal Credit. No endless hoops, no proving you are worthy of help.
What struck us most was the housing itself. Walking into the hub and seeing exactly what a veteran would be given was really something, and you can see the care and thought that has gone into every last detail. Chad works with developers to turn houses into hubs, and every veteran gets a unit of their own. A comfortable bed, an ensuite shower room, a private kitchenette with a fridge, sink and microwave, and a communal kitchen for the more ambitious culinary adventures. Somewhere to call home while they figure the rest out. It is not a shelter and it does not feel like one. It is a proper base to rebuild from.
Inside one of the units: somewhere to call home while a veteran gets back on their feet. Courtesy of Veteran Housing Group's LinkedIn page.
A private kitchenette in one of the units. Courtesy of Veteran Housing Group's LinkedIn page.
There is something else at work in those hubs, and it goes straight back to what Vikki said about belonging. The communal side is no accident. Placement is carefully thought through, so the veterans sharing a hub can have a positive effect on one another, offering support, motivation and guidance between them. It brings back the camaraderie that is the fabric of military service, the team around you, the people who understand without needing it explained. For a lot of veterans, that is the piece that has been missing.
There is a mindset underneath all of it that matters. Veteran Housing Group does not just ask what support a veteran needs, it asks what they bring. Military service leaves people with leadership, discipline, problem solving and plenty else that gets overlooked the moment someone turns up needing help. A veteran with a trade might lend a hand keeping the properties right, someone with leadership behind them might end up mentoring the next person through. Progress is not always the next property. Sometimes it is finding a reason to get up in the morning again.
Your service is part of your story. It is not the whole story.
The London hub we visited is the first, with more already in production. London is the first of 15 hubs planned across six London boroughs, and the ambition runs further still. Veteran Housing Group also has a portfolio in the West Midlands, with vacancies available now. Chad and his team are not thinking about this year, they are building for the long term, to help generations of veterans to come.
Why we are partnering
It did not take long in that building to see how closely this sits with what we are trying to do. The Ops Con exists to help veterans transition well, and Veteran Housing Group is catching the ones for whom that transition has gone wrong and helping them find their way again. Two halves of the same job.
So we are partnering with them. Together we want to help veterans through the hard times and out the other side.
Chad Maskell, founder of Veteran Housing Group (left), with Fraser Coleman, founder of The Ops Con.
Our first commitment is a practical one. The Ops Con has pledged to write free CVs for every veteran supported by Veteran Housing Group, through online and in-person workshops. We will sit down with them and help them talk about their military experience in a way civilian employers actually understand, because a strong CV is often the difference between a knock-back and a foot in the door.
What this means for you
If you have fallen on hard times since leaving service, or you know someone who has, this is real, practical help from people who understand where you have been. You do not have to be at rock bottom to deserve a hand, and you do not have to have it all worked out before you ask. The first step is simply a conversation, and there is no shame in needing one.
Veteran Housing Group is not about charity or pity. It is about giving veterans who have hit a rough patch a real chance to get back on their feet and build a good life beyond service. We are proud to stand alongside them.
To refer a veteran, or to refer yourself, you can contact Veteran Housing Group directly at Enquiries@veteranhousinggroup.com. Referring is straightforward wherever you are and their team takes care of the rest.
If you would like to know more, whether that is for yourself, for someone you know, or because you want to help, get in touch with us and we will point you the right way.
Veterans do not need pity. They need guidance, clear direction and a plan.
At a glance
Veteran Housing Group gives veterans a solid foundation when transition has gone wrong and life has knocked them down.
Founded by Chad Maskell, built on a simple idea: not charity, but guidance, structure and a plan.
They are a one-stop shop. Housing comes first as the foundation, then short-term, focused support in wellbeing, benefits, training and work moves a veteran towards independence, all from one place rather than a dozen different doors.
Anyone can refer a veteran and veterans can self-refer. The only criteria are having served and being on Universal Credit.
Each veteran gets their own unit in a hub, a proper base to rebuild from, not a shelter, and placements are planned so the veterans in each hub support and motivate one another, rebuilding the camaraderie of service.
The first hub is in London, the first of 15 planned across six London boroughs, with a West Midlands portfolio that has vacancies now, and ambitions that reach further still, built to help generations of veterans to come.
The Ops Con and Veteran Housing Group are now partnering to help veterans through the hard times.
Our first pledge: free CV workshops for every veteran they support, online or in person.
To refer a veteran or self-refer, contact Veteran Housing Group at Enquiries@veteranhousinggroup.com. To find out more, or to support the work, get in touch with us.
