Veterans living next to Chelsea Football Club relieved they will no longer be made homeless

Veterans living in accommodation next to Chelsea Football Club's Stamford Bridge Stadium and who had been facing eviction have told Forces News they are "relieved" they will no longer be made homeless. 

Under previous plans, the site which is reportedly worth £80m, would have been sold, leaving 42 former military personnel without a place to call home.

Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions currently houses over 100 veterans, some of whom served in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan.

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Stoll, the charity that runs the site, is in the process of selling the homes to Chelsea Football Club.

Former Scots Guards officer Simon, who lives just a few metres away from the stadium, told Forces News: "There are some people here who are in their 90s and 80s who were being told that they'd be put out on the street at some point.

"You can imagine the uncertainty put into their minds ... some in tears and that is no longer the case to the great relief of everybody here."

According to real estate consultant Knight Frank, which is marketing the property on behalf of the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation, the property currently provides housing and support to disabled and vulnerable former service personnel in independent living across 157 apartments.

The advertisement says that in addition to the accommodation there is the Stoll head office, a GP surgery and a meeting space on site.

Stoll says it is selling the site because it would cost too much to renovate the property to modern standards.

Chief executive Will Campbell-Wroe responded to criticism of the charity's previous plans to evict some veterans.

He said: "We had to go through the process. I think we had to talk to people about what the implication of the sale might be and work out what it meant for each individual and each group.

"We have a group of residents who joined us over the last four or five years who were aware the sale was going to happen at some point and so I think for them they had a slightly different arrangement with us, but we have always wanted to try and rehouse everyone with Stoll if we could."

The sale to Chelsea Football Club is expected to go through within the next two weeks and the 42 veterans are expected to be rehoused at another site nearby along with the other residents of the home.