When the Prime Minister walked out to make his speech at Labour Party Conference, we were confident homelessness was going to be quite literally centre stage. Our team has attended a lot of party conferences over the years, and I can assure you this is not normal.
Andy Burnham’s pledge on the steps of Downing Street to end rough sleeping didn’t immediately make that happen. But it did mean that homelessness has overnight skyrocketed up the political agenda.
And that’s why we were at conference
With an unprecedented level of debate around homelessness, we were determined to focus that debate on the changes that our members tell us will make the biggest difference.
Changes like a more effective and efficient funding system for homelessness services. Accessible support for people with no recourse to public funds. A social security system that puts homelessness prevention at its core.
At conference we use the authority of our members’ frontline expertise in meetings with ministers, MPs, think tanks, journalists and anyone else we identify as having the power to drive change.
Connecting with our members and colleagues
You may have seen we hosted a special event in collaboration with the excellent St. Martin-in-the-Fields charity, entitled ‘From the frontlines: What will it take to end rough sleeping?’
It’s a big question, and a packed room heard St Martin-in-the-Fields’ Duncan Shrubsole and myself try to cover as much ground as we could, with a direct frontline perspective provided by the excellent Paulene Connell from the Independence Initiative.
It was a busy day for Paulene, as shortly after our morning event she headed back up the road to Bootle to host a visit from the Prime Minister, Secretary of State Angela Rayner, and Chancellor John Healey!
As a membership organisation we also love to come together with the wider movement to end homelessness. So I was honoured to join an expert panel of speakersat the Ending Homelessness Rally, with colleagues at Centrepoint, Greater Change, Big Issue, Crisis, Shelter and lots of others.
Throughout conference meanwhile we were joining sessions with representatives from all parts of Government, to remind ministers that under the National Plan to End Homelessness, all parts of Government have a responsibility to end and prevent homelessness.
This work doesn’t stop at conference of course. In fact I’ll be down in Parliament in just over a week, telling MPs what it will take to end rough sleeping during our World Homeless Day event. You can invite your MP to meet with us at our World Homeless Day event in Parliament.
What did we learn on new policy?
Party conferences aren’t just a place for networking and campaigning, they can also be spaces where we hear about significant new policies. So what did we learn at Labour conference this week?
Well the big announcements on homelessness – primarily the Rough Sleeping Programme – came a few weeks ago. But there were still some notable developments.
- Confirmation the ‘Everyone In’ pledge is not just for Christmas. The Prime Minister stated in his speech that Everyone In is now “permanent national policy”. That clarity is welcome. Now we’ll be pushing Government to make sure the scheme is more than a short-term sticking plaster. Emergency accommodation needs to be of decent quality and followed up with an appropriate accommodation offer, paired with the support people require to sustain that accommodation.
- Councils given more powers to invest in council homes. Anything that gets us closer to more truly affordable and accessible homes is a positive development. Powers though need to be matched with the resources to use those powers by purchasing decent quality housing stock when it becomes available.
- Housing associations in England cannot decline to house homeless families without good reason. For our members, who are highly focused on supporting people out of homelessness, this is unlikely to change the way they work in practice. But any measures that reduce the risk of discrimination against people experiencing homelessness, and that encourages partnership working between councils and providers, is to be welcomed.
There are opportunities ahead
Beyond any specific policy announcements, my main reflection on conference is that this is an unprecedented political opportunity. Topics we usually have to force conversations on – supported housing or Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates – were being raised unprompted by MPs.
Clearly, this is the consequence of strong, vocal leadership on homelessness. When the Prime Minister says ‘I will not rest until we live in a Britain where everyone has a roof over their head every night and no one is forced to sleep rough on our streets,’ he creates a space for all of us to suggest how we can turn those ambitions into actions.
And that’s what we will be doing. Join our Campaigns Network to be a part of it, and get our regular email updates on our policy and campaigns work.
You can also help shape our advocacy by sharing what is currently happening in your area with the implementation of the new Rough Sleeping Programme. Join one of the upcoming drop-in sessions with our Policy Team.
