JUST two homeless veterans were given accommodation in Bournemouth or Poole last year, new figures show.

BCP Council let out the properties to armed forces personnel in urgent need of housing during 2019.

Housing laws state that local authorities must give preference to homeless applicants, with extra weight added to an application if they have served their country.

In 2018-19, there was only one household in Bournemouth, and one in Poole, where current or former military personnel received this extra priority, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government data reveals.

No properties were let to homeless veterans in Christchurch. In East Dorset, two people were given help to secure accommodation.

The chief executive of the UK’s largest military housing charity has called on councils to honour a commitment to look after homeless veterans, with fewer than 1,000 receiving preference last year.

Ed Tytherleigh of the No Homeless Veterans campaign says “many end up sleeping in their car or on someone's floor” after finding themselves with nowhere to go.