By Duncan Shrubsole, CEO, St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity
At St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity, our first priority is always helping people directly and through our network of partners – helping people into new accommodation, supporting frontline workers and investing in new solutions, such as around homelessness and mental health.
But we also know that, however good our services and programmes are, we can only reach so many people. If we are to achieve our vision of everyone having a safe place to call home, we need to ensure more is done to tackle the causes and consequences of homelessness. That means talking to policymakers and politicians in central and local government, and sharing the insights and evidence from our work to influence funding, services, laws and more.
Last month, we published our eighth annual Frontline Worker Survey, capturing the views of frontline homelessness sector workers. These are the unsung heroes working day in, day out to engage and support people experiencing homelessness. They have a unique perspective, but one that is not heard enough – our survey seeks to give them a voice. Over 1,300 people from across the UK responded, sharing their views, perspectives and concerns. And it makes sobering reading.
Eighty-five percent told us that demand for their homelessness services had increased over the last 12 months, and 80% said they expected homelessness to get worse. The challenges they highlighted are threefold: a lack of accommodation; services not being available or joined up; and huge pressures on their own wellbeing. They gave us a rich and wise set of views, but one quote in particular jumped out at me…
It’s our responsibility to share these perspectives – firstly with the media; secondly with the homelessness sector, through newsletters and conferences; and thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, with politicians and policymakers.
Earlier in the year, I was involved in some work bringing charities, councils and others together to shape recommendations to feed into the Government’s homelessness strategy. Together, we came up with clear recommendations and presented them to the then Homelessness Minister. Since then, things have gone a bit quiet, and the key ministers got themselves into a bit of trouble with their own housing arrangements and had to resign. Now, with a new set of ministers in place, it’s vital they focus and redouble their efforts to help those who lack a home of their own.
So, I headed up to Liverpool and the Labour Party Conference. Conference is like political Glastonbury – councillors, MPs, party activists and people like me from charities and other organisations gather for a few days of debate and discussion. This year, it was particularly good to see many events discussing housing and homelessness – though a recognition of the challenges there are.
The new Secretary of State for Housing, Steve Reed, was clear that as a country we need to “Build, baby, build”. New houses and new towns are vital and much needed, but they will take time. We also need action now to tackle the problems of too many households in temporary accommodation – now over 130,000, a record figure – and how to reduce rough sleeping.
There was clear interest in the issues, and I was able to share our survey findings with MPs and council leaders. But now we now need to see real action. We need a new Homelessness Strategy that is ambitious and bold but also practical. We need action now in the forthcoming Budget on funding, and to look at the level of Local Housing Allowance.
At St Martin’s Charity, we will seek to hold the feet of politicians and civil servants to the fire.
We know we can’t wait, so we are getting on with our programmes to increase access to accommodation and test new ways of helping workers to sustain accommodation and improve their own wellbeing.
Practical action, coupled with longer-term change
Of course, all of this is only possible with your help – not only your donations, but also your active support. We know homelessness is solvable and change is achievable – and together we can both do more ourselves and influence others.
We’ll keep you updated as our plans progress, but if you ever have a question or want to know more, do drop us a line at info@stmartinscharity.org.uk
