To mark Homeless Link’s 25th anniversary, Senior Communications Manager, Louise Weaver, spoke with Sir Brian Pomeroy, the organisation’s original Chair, about how Homeless Link came into being, what the early years were like, and what lessons still resonate for the sector today.
What was your original involvement in the homelessness sector?
Sir Brian Pomeroy: Originally, I’d worked with Centrepoint, where I had been Chair for around ten years. We were focused on young people experiencing homelessness; leaving home, often after difficult family experiences, coming to London, sleeping in doorways and often facing challenges around substance use and other support needs. Centrepoint was developing direct-access emergency accommodation, crash pads and hostels, while trying to support people towards work and stability.
What was the state of the sector in the 1990s?
In the 1990s, rough sleeping became much more visible and higher profile. The Rough Sleepers Initiative made a real difference. Although we did not necessarily accept every official figure, we could see from our own counts that rough sleeping was reducing quite significantly. At the same time, we were very conscious that rough sleeping was only the most visible tip of the homelessness iceberg.
In London, my sense was that the sector was comparatively strong. Organisations such as Centrepoint, St Mungo’s, Depaul and Broadway were well organised, had some campaigning strength, and were delivering important work. Outside London, the picture was less clear to me at the time.
What did the founding of Homeless Link involve and what was your role?
The Rough Sleepers Unit (later the Homelessness Directorate) headed by Louise Casey, had a significant hand in what happened. There were two similar membership organisations –National Homeless Alliance and Homeless Network – and their two boards agreed to merge. They needed someone who could act as an executive chair for a short period to help bring the organisations together and then step back into a more conventional chairperson role.
I was one of the people approached to do this. There was a recruitment process and I was offered the role. The opportunity came at the right time for me. I had just finished my period as Chair of Centrepoint, so I had the time available, and it gave me an opportunity to stay involved in the homelessness sector.
Was there a political push for the sector to work together?
I would not describe it as political in an ideological sense. It felt practical. The Rough Sleepers Unit was funding two “umbrella” bodies, National Homeless Alliance and Homeless Network, both doing similar work and with some overlap in membership. Louise Casey could see the logic of supporting a single stronger organisation. Even without her intervention, I think the organisations might eventually have looked for partners. But the driver was largely practical rather than ideological.
What were the key aims in forming Homeless Link?
The main aim was to create a single national body with a strong voice for the homelessness sector. We also wanted the new organisation to provide practical support for members, including services, training and advice, much as Homeless Link continues to do today.
There were three important initial aims. First, we needed to keep the membership engaged, because without members there would be no organisation – that was extremely important. Second, we needed to do the right thing by staff, while recognising that some rationalisation would be unavoidable. Third, we had to make the new organisation financially viable by building a stable funding base.
The main aim was to create a single national body with a strong voice for the homelessness sector... we needed to keep the membership engaged, because without members there would be no organisation – that was extremely important.
What were the early days of Homeless Link like?
The two organisations were culturally somewhat different and the process inevitably had to take account of this. But once the decision was made, the task was to make the merger work by taking practical decisions to create a shared way of working and a new structure, including a new board, constitution and staffing models. Louise Casey provided someone to assist me, Annie Turner, who did a really good job helping to create the new organisation.
There were many discussions about the organisation’s role, its name, where it fitted politically, and how much campaigning it should do. While some of the larger London agencies already had strong communication and campaigning teams of their own, many smaller members clearly needed a national body to represent them more actively.
There were also real strengths to bring together. For example, National Homeless Alliance had particular expertise in multiple and complex needs, which was hugely important because many people experiencing homelessness were also facing mental health, substance use and other support needs.
My recollection is that the new board was established fairly quickly, the organisation had sufficient initial funding to get going, and we began building a broader funding base.
What were Homeless Link’s biggest early achievements?
In those first years, the biggest achievement was simply getting a new functioning national body up and running. That meant establishing a stable staff team with clear objectives, keeping members engaged, and ensuring the organisation had enough financial stability to continue.
Keeping the membership was particularly important and after the merger was proposed, but before it actually happened, Annie Turner and I travelled around the country speaking to members, especially smaller ones, to reassure them that our offer to them would continue and improve. My recollection is that we lost hardly any members, which felt like a real achievement.
Homeless Link also developed stronger political engagement, a clearer advocacy role and a more stable funding platform.
Looking back 25 years later, the fact that the organisation is still going strong, with a strong membership, is itself one of the clearest signs of success.
What lessons still feel important today and what do you think of the current drive to end rough sleeping?
One important lesson is that progress can be real but fragile. In the late 1990s, rough sleeping was significantly reduced by the Rough Sleeper Initiative and many of us felt that something useful had been achieved. But those gains were later unwound, and rough sleeping rose again.
Supporting People, which came in around 2003, was also a very important initiative and a significant funding lever for the sector, although like any major programme it had its own issues.
I would never claim that the problem was solved. Homelessness remains with us, and the challenge is to make progress that can be sustained.
Today’s government seems to have a positive intention to reduce homeleness, which is a good omen and I hope we will see real change.
