Expert Panel

Homeless Link is advised by an Expert Panel of people who have been or who are currently homeless. Members of the panel have used the services provided by Homeless Link members, and many of them now work or volunteer in the sector. Their knowledge and experience feeds into many areas of Homeless Link policy and practice.

This is their first campaign.

Protect to support

Making the case that funding to help vulnerable adults should be used for its intended purpose

This is a call to action for everyone who works in or uses the services of the homelessness sector. It’s a call to help build evidence to argue that the government must protect the funding streams designed to support people who are homeless, or who are at risk of becoming so. 

Many people reading this will have felt the direct effects as funding for the services they work for was reduced or stopped. Some of us have felt the most brutal impact as services that supported us were dissolved.

We’ve been through the first round of cuts. There’s no reason to believe a second round will be any less harsh, so we believe it is time to start questioning again the unsound logic of calling a pot of money Supporting People, without insisting it should be used to support people.

Local authorities weren’t able to offer this protection for a many reasons. That means the drive to ensure that Supporting People funds are used to commission Supporting People services has to come from central government. If funds cannot be protected, then strong incentives must be offered to protect them locally.

This isn’t about a nanny state - it’s about a sensible state. Let’s not ask for a ringfence. Let’s ask for sensible protection. Let’s demand common sense.

So what can we do?

1. In October 2011, we handed a written request to Housing Minister Grant Shapps for a meeting to discuss this further. We would like the opportunity to demonstrate to him what life can be like both with and without these services – and of the likely impact their loss will have on the success of any strategy to end rough sleeping.
   
   YOU CAN READ OUR LETTER HERE...
    
2. We need evidence and stories from people who use services that have lost funding or are at risk of losing funding. So, whether you’re a CEO or a part time volunteer, please try to inspire, motivate and help the people who use your services to share their stories with us.
   
   We would like to find out about:
   • the positive impact that services have had on their wellbeing, health and prospects
   • the negative impact of losing that support
   • the human picture of what can happen to a life when support is lost
   • the impact this has had on general morale - service users, staff, volunteers.

Click here to help us make the case