The 'Spaces' project at work: Catterick Garrison

Soldiers, sailors and airmen are among the most likely people to end up on the streets – some are as young as 21. Members of the armed services are especially vulnerable to homelessness because of difficulties they can experience in civilian life after several years in an army barracks or a posting abroad.

Soldiers, sailors and airmen are among the most likely people to end up on the streets – some are as young as 21. Members of the armed services are especially vulnerable to homelessness because of difficulties they can experience in civilian life after several years in an army barracks or a posting abroad.

Working alongside a range of voluntary organisations and the Rough Sleepers Unit, the armed services are now actively trying to prevent ex-servicemen from going down this road. Spaces, the Single Person's Accommodation Centre for the Ex Services, is a project with the English Churches Housing Group which has just helped its 400th client into accommodation.

The project at Catterick Garrison, one of Britain's biggest army centres, is aimed at men and women from all three services who might otherwise find themselves without a roof. It has helped people stationed as far away as Kosovo before they are discharged back in the UK. "The aim is to pick up people who need help and get them into accommodation before they leave – not when it's already too late," says Spaces project manager Trevor Morris, himself an ex-serviceman.

Ex-servicemen are particularly vulnerable to becoming rough sleepers because of a variety of circumstances. In a minority of cases, youngsters may have joined the army precisely because they lacked the social skills necessary to organise their own lives. Some may have been escaping from a problem home. After six years in the services, they have not learnt how to cope.

"Unfortunately, you have to look at the background of a lot of people who choose to join the services," Morris says. "A lot come from areas where there is no other work, or from families where there has been a breakdown in relationships. It is a minority, but significant. You only have to be in the services a short while to be an ex-serviceman. After the basic training, some will find the life is not for them and they end up back in the situation they started in, with a strong likelihood of being homeless."

But even the best trained serviceman can become dependent on army life and despite an enviable support system, many will underestimate the difficulties of moving from army-tied accommodation to finding a home of their own. The problem affects older ex-servicemen too: some of the longest-surviving rough sleepers in London are known to have a national service background.

A large number of ex-service personnel move on to stay with friends or return to parents while they search for a new job – and that is when their problems are just beginning. Overall, between a fifth and a quarter of rough sleepers are known to have an ex-service background.

Spaces works by identifying servicemen and women who are about to leave – for whatever reason – and have no permanent address to go to. Services welfare staff, senior officers and army chaplains all point them in the right direction. The project can quickly put them in touch with voluntary organisations, local authority housing officers and housing associations in the area they intend to move to. In some cases, a serviceman can approach Spaces on a Friday afternoon and be found accommodation within a week.

The Spaces staff help with paperwork, form-filling, arranging deposits, applying for emergency benefits and relocation. Among its success stories has been a young soldier from the Army in Germany who was found temporary accommodation in Hull and has since moved into his own flat. Another ex-soldier who was walking the streets in Ipswich by day and working as a security guard at night is now in his own flat after contacting Spaces through a Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Stephen Grey, the project's 400th client, is to be medically discharged at only 23 because of two broken ankles, but he already knows he will move into his own two-bedroom flat because of help from Spaces. "I'm pretty happy – I got it almost straight away. I wouldn't have known what to do on my own," he said.