Five homelessness services from across the country have been named as winners in Homeless Link’s national Excellence Awards 2025, with a further 9 organisations highly commended.
You can view a LinkedIn post including photos of the winners here.
Homeless Link is the national membership charity for frontline homelessness organisations, and its annual awards recognise the range of innovative and impactful work happening across the sector to support people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping in England.
The five category winners for 2025 are:
- Workforce Development Award: St Petrocs, Cornwall
- Demonstrating Impact: Connection Support
- Excellent Support: Eastbourne Borough Council
- Unlocking Housing Supply: Community Ventures (Middlesbrough) Ltd
- Successful Partnerships: Whitechapel Centre/SHAP
The 2025 Excellence Awards received 115 entries across the five categories, 29 of which were shortlisted. The awards were supported by the St-Martin-in-the-Fields Charity and judged by experts from across the sector.
The judges included Michele Binfield, Director of Programmes at the Centre for Homelessness Impact, Mary Foulkes OBE FCIPD, Director of Equity, Inclusion and Culture at Shelter, Rick Henderson, Chief Executive of Homeless Link, Minnie Rahmen, Chief Executive of Praxis and Duncan Shrubsole, Chief Executive of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Rick Henderson, Chief Executive of Homeless Link, comments: “From a programme working with the families of school age children on homelessness prevention to a council service bridging the gap between homelessness, wellbeing and employment, Homeless Link’s annual Excellence Awards highlight the innovative, impactful and dedicated work happening across the country to ensure that people have a place to call home and the support they need to keep it.
“Homelessness organisations are managing extremely high levels of demand from people with increasingly complex support needs, while continuing to face significant financial pressures. It is important that we recognise their exceptional efforts and the outcomes they help achieve for people experiencing homelessness, validating their work, boosting morale and raising their profile among local partners.
“The sector has a crucial role to play in preventing and ending homelessness, and we hope that the Government will support this work through its upcoming Spending review and national homelessness strategy.”
Award categories and winners
Workforce Development: Recognising homelessness sector organisations that prioritise the professional growth and wellbeing of their staff.
Winner: St Petrocs
Highly Commended: Connection Support & Restart Lives
Demonstrating Impact: Recognising organisations that can clearly demonstrate their effectiveness in supporting people facing homelessness, and their ability to learn from what works.
Winner: Connection Support
Highly Commended: SIFA Fireside
Excellent Support: Celebrating the heart of homelessness delivery; those core support services that make a real difference in peoples’ lives.
Winner: Eastbourne Borough Council
Highly Commended: Cranstoun and Concrete
Unlocking Housing Supply: Recognising organisations that are successfully increasing access to appropriate housing for individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Winner: Community Ventures (Middlesbrough) Ltd
Highly Commended: Cornerstone Place and Housing Justice
Successful Partnerships: Celebrating organisations that can demonstrate exceptional collaboration and partnership initiatives to address homelessness.
Winner: The Whitechapel Centre/SHAP
Highly Commended: BCP Council and COLAB