Homeless Link Director of Social Change Fiona Colley, also a former councillor, shares some suggestions on how homelessness services can use the recent local elections as a moment to build relationships with councillors.
(Re)starting the conversation: engaging with new councils after the local election
Building a positive relationship with councillors isn’t always easy. I know that from countless conversations with homelessness charities of all scales doing all sorts of brilliant work across the country.
And I can vouch for it as a former councillor myself. Often combining their role with a full-time job and needing to get their heads around a range of local issues from street cleaning to social care, convincing councillors to throw their time and energy behind your mission can take some work.
Yet it can be worth it. I’ve seen and heard so many examples of where political buy-in from councillors has helped empower homelessness support and prevention services do even more impactful work.
Many of us may be looking at last week’s local election results and – quite understandably – thinking about the challenges ahead. Ruing the loss of old allies, daunted by the scale of change, and potentially seeing newly elected councillors speaking in ways that seem wholly at odds with our core values.
But so much change also presents opportunity. This is a chance to change the way we think, speak and fund homelessness prevention and support in communities across the country.
Building relationships that work
Whether your council has seen wholesale changes or remains broadly the same, the election provides a good opportunity to win new supporters amongst local councillors.
That’s easier said than done of course. And those conversations will be more challenging in some areas than in others. The way parties – even the same parties – speak about homelessness can vary wildly from area to area.
With that in mind, we put together our Local Election Kit, which includes both practical tips on getting in touch with your councillors and suggestions around how to have constructive conversations. There’s also a range of key talking points you can consider raising to get your councillors thinking about the big issues facing homelessness support and prevention services right now.
You may though need to wait a little while before reaching out. It can take a few weeks for new council administrations to form and for councillors to be fully set up with new official email addresses.
Finding common ground
Some of the content in our Local Election Kit builds on the research from the Frameworks Institute on how to effectively communicate about homelessness. This is all about starting the conversations around homelessness in a way that centres commonly shared values – like “everyone has a right to be treated with dignity” and “living with dignity means access to a decent home.”
There’s also advice in our Kit around setting the tone of the conversation to challenge the harmful preconceptions some politicians may have around homelessness.
Be confident in your values – and your knowledge
Attempting to find common ground to build relationships is important. But so is standing your ground. If you secure a meeting with newly elected councillor or cabinet member, it’s worth checking what – if anything – they or their party have had to say about homelessness in the election campaign.
If a particular political party or individual is pursuing policies or approaches that fundamentally contradict your organisation’s values and mission, firmly but politely making that disagreement known can be the best way forward.
Because as well as being confident in your values, you should be confident in your knowledge. When it comes to ending and preventing homelessness, your perspective draws on direct insight into what works, and what doesn’t. That should give councillors who disagree with you pause for thought, even if it doesn’t immediately change their mind.
Playing the long game: Disagreement doesn’t need to mean disengagement
Getting political buy-in to your work can be a real boost. But if political support proves impossible to secure, many of our members find they can still invest in productive relationships with the non-political council leadership and wider local authority staff.
Keeping an effective working relationship with local authorities not only ensures the people you support aren’t unduly affected by any political tumult. It also leaves the door open to re-engagement with councillors further down the line.
Particularly for the thousands elected last week for the very first time, the experience of being a councillor may cause their views to evolve. If during that time your service has continued to prove itself a valuable community asset and support to the local authority’s work, you will be a good position to shape new councillors’ views in a positive direction.
Share your experience
Homeless Link is here to support all our members – including many local authorities – to build effective local systems that put an end to homelessness in communities across the country.
So we are keen to hear your experience of working with local councillors and councils. Not just related to the recent elections, but any reflections on the successes, challenges or lessons learned you have experienced.
All Homeless Link members can join our Campaigns Network to receive regular updates on the support available to work with and influence local and national officials.
