Our Funders and Projects

We receive income in the form of grants and donations from central government, local government, other public sector bodies, trusts, foundations, the National Lottery Community Fund, companies and individuals. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who helps us to deliver our work.

To understand the whole picture please see our latest Annual Report and Accounts.

Some of our work is arranged in projects, with specific funding streams. The pages below describe some of our main projects.

The Government’s National Workforce Programme is a new £12 million, 3-year national grant programme, in partnership with three sector experts: Homeless Link, Shelter and Housing Justice.

Running from 2026 to 2029, this programme aims to ensure the current and future homelessness and rough sleeping workforce has the necessary skills and capacity to effectively support people at risk of and experiencing homelessness, while supporting career development opportunities.

Objectives

The objectives of the National Workforce Programme are to meet the current and future needs of the workforce, with specific focus on:

1. Capacity building
2. Capability building
3. Career progression

Homeless Link is involved in delivering two of the four distinct areas of the programme:

Pillar 1

Led by Homeless Link, this area of the programme aims to strengthen the foundations of the sector and develop workforce capacity, recruitment and career pathways. We are delivering this in partnership with St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity and Expert Link.

Accounting for over one third of the programme’s funding, pillar 1 encompasses innovative new initiatives around recruitment, qualifications, training programmes, career pathways, and further developing the National Homelessness Skills Framework.

Pillar 2

Led by Shelter with Homeless Link as delivery partners, this part of the programme aims to provide a comprehensive workforce capability package for sector professionals and volunteers.

Our role involves contributing guidance on emerging issues, innovation and good practice, running learning sessions to strengthen workforce capacity, and producing new content for our Going Beyond podcast and Spotlight series.

Homeless Link is also funded by MHCLG to support all local authorities in England to undertake an annual estimate of the number of people rough sleeping in their area on a single night. We verify that all local authorities have followed the process accurately.

CHAIN is a multi-agency database recording information about people sleeping rough and the wider street population in London. The system, which is commissioned and funded by the Mayor of London and managed by Homeless Link, represents the UK's most detailed and comprehensive source of information about rough sleeping.

Finding local solutions to non-UK national homelessness: Supporting people with restricted eligibility, delivered by Homeless Link in partnership with the No Accommodation Network (NACCOM) with funding from Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales. Click here for more . We have also received financial support from the Local Government Association.

Supported by the Mayor of London and in partnership with Praxis, we are delivering a training programme on non-UK nationals experiencing homelessness. The training programme seeks to increase understanding of the needs and rights of non-UK nationals, highlight the tools, opportunities and barriers in the system when supporting people facing restricted eligibility and improve the level of collaboration between the migrant and homelessness sectors in London.

The London Plus Project is a partnership between Homeless Link and Shelter, and is funded by London Councils as part of their Grants Programme 2022-26. The aim and mission of London Plus originates from our specific grant funding of: “Improving the response to homelessness in London (working with housing and homelessness organisations and professionals)”

Homeless Link works with the London Housing Federation to produce an annual interactive map of London's Homelessness Services. It includes overlay maps of numbers of rough sleepers and the types and scale of service available in each borough, in addition to showing historical trends.

Our work to promote the scaling up of Housing First in England, and including policy, practice and research work into Housing First is funded by The Nationwide Foundation and Comic Relief

Our Social Enterprise work is funded by the Access Foundation

Alongside our partners Pathway and Groundswell, we are members of the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance which is jointly managed and is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and UK Health Security Agency. For more information visit: https://www.england.nhs.uk/hwalliance . And our public health research is funded by the National Institute of Health Research.

Funded by the City Bridge Trust, our intensive leadership programme is designed to help London based CEOs and senior staff affect change, understand their impact and achieve organisational and financial sustainability.

St Martins-in-the-Field Charity have provided financial support to enable us to subsidise places on our frontline accredited training programme

Access Insurance are Chartered Insurance Brokers for over 15,000 charities and not-for-profits across the UK.

Access has worked with Homeless Link since 2009, most recently sponsoring our annual Leadership Summit, and has advised and arranged insurance for many homelessness organisations, housing and service providers. They understand that each organisation has its own unique risks, and using their specialist knowledge of the sector, build tailored insurance programmes. This approach results in reduced gaps in cover and clients only paying for the cover they need.

Their experienced advisers provide jargon-free guidance and offer a free review of your current protection. They offer a bespoke solution, whether you are a local charity or a national organisation.

To find out more email charity@accessinsurance.co.uk or visit accessinsurance.co.uk.

Homeless Link also manages grants on behalf of other funders. See our grants and funding page.