Recent Posts

As part of The Guardian’s ‘The Empty Doorway’ series, they are looking behind the statistics “to tell the stories of some of those who have died on Britain’s streets.” A recent article posed the question “Why isn’t it an election priority?”

It was announced today that ‘no-fault evictions’ are to be abolished. This is fantastic news and a major step in helping to reduce homelessness.

It was announced this morning (9 August 2018) that the Government had ditched its highly controversial plans to change the way supported housing was funded across the country. This is fantastic news for the sector and the hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people who rely on the services of charities, housing associations and the like.

With homelessness rising in Coventry and all around the UK, how we react to those asking for money on our streets has become an even greater focus. The debate centres on not only whether the general public should be encouraged or discouraged to give money, but also how the authorities deal with those asking.

AUTUMN STATEMENT AND GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES: In his autumn budget speech, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond, pledged to halve the number of people forced to sleep on the streets by 2020. This is considerably less philanthropic than it might seem, given that rough sleeping has doubled since this government came to power. But this is not a party political broadcast… in truth; successive governments have consistently failed to adequately address the issue of homelessness.

LOCAL COMMUNITY IMPACT: As a long-time Chief Executive at a local charity, I can say first-hand how difficult it is to convince people of the level of success we achieve in the community as the problem of homelessness never seems to go away; in fact it just gets worse. However, as our Twitter page recently retweeted “small charities are like bees - pollinating below the radar in their local areas.”

NEW YEAR, NEW CHALLENGES: When I started working for the organisation in 1985 we provided spaces for less than 30 people and received a grant from the City Council to help us with the costs. We now provide accommodation for nearly five times as many single homeless people and more than any other single agency in Coventry. The size of the problem has increased but money is tighter for everybody and now we receive no grant from the City Council.

MAJOR PROGRESS: Following steep increases in street homelessness across the country it's good to see that cross-party support has been gathering momentum and the Homelessness Reductions Bill is set to be debated in Parliament on 28th October.