Pledge to end homelessness in a decade
A national organisation has received support from the three main political parties after announcing a ‘ten-step’ strategy to end homelessness in the next ten years.
Homeless Link’s manifesto sets out ten practical steps, including reform of the benefits system, halving the number of empty homes and extending support for learning, skills and employment.
Chief executive Jenny Edwards said: ‘We will not allow the most vulnerable in our society to be invisible. We want to see a green paper that will tackle the deep social exclusion of people with multiple needs.’
The umbrella organisation for homelessness charities launched its manifesto at an event with guest speakers Ian Austin MP, parliamentary undersecretary for DCLG, Caroline Spelman MP, shadow communities and local government secretary and Julia Goldsworthy MP, shadow communities secretary.
Less than a quarter of the 205 most entrenched long-term rough sleepers remain on the streets after a focus by the mayor’s London Delivery Board as part of a national campaign.
However, the current government method of counting rough sleeper numbers has come in for criticism by the Conservative MP and shadowing housing minister Grant Shapps, who claimed the 'bracketing down' of official homeless statistics was ‘deliberate undercounting’.
by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
