By Nicola Slawson
Danny Heavens, 28, still can’t believe that the bright, warm flat close to Bristol city centre is his home. Adjusting to stability after the six years of homelessness that followed a six-year stint in the army is going to be a challenge, admits the former Grenadier Guardsman.
For the last 12 months, Heavens has been one of 10 homeless veterans who has helped build the very homes they now live in. Pioneered by the charityCommunity Self Build Agency (CSBA), the initiative was the brainchild of its chair, Stella Clarke, whose brother Lord King served as defence secretary under Margaret Thatcher, and a former army major Ken Hames.
Although concrete figures on homeless veterans in the UK are hard to come by, it is a recognised problem. A 
newspaper investigation in 2013 found an estimated 9,000 rough sleepers – one in 10 – across the UK had a military background. Research ahead of a previous CSBA housing pilot in 2012 – which built 10 homes for ex-military personnel and four for people with learning disabilities in Bristol – found that one in four people sleeping rough in the city had been in the armed forces.
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