Homelessness Sector calls for personal leadership from Andy Burnham
More than 75 organisations sign an open letter calling for the scale up of Housing First
78 CEOs and senior leaders of homelessness organisations from across England have today written to Andy Burnham calling for strong personal leadership from him as Prime Minister, and active buy-in from all branches of Government to implement a Housing First philosophy.
The homelessness leaders praise the progress of the Housing First approach that Burnham has introduced in Greater Manchester and argue that this could be “a seminal moment in our nation’s efforts to turn the tide on shamefully high levels of homelessness.”
The letter is co-ordinated by Homeless Link, the membership organisation who represent homelessness organisations across England. Signatories include Crisis UK, Change Grow Live, St Mungo's and the Connection at St Martins. Signatories have offered to meet and support Burnham to define and implement the Housing First philosophy which they say could be transformative.
Fiona Colley, Director of Social Change at Homeless Link, commented: “The homelessness sector is excited to see someone become Prime Minister who has a strong personal track record of championing homelessness reduction and some very real, on the ground experience of supporting projects that work.”
“The number of people experiencing homelessness across England remains stubbornly far too high. We hope that the new Prime Minister will truly spearhead a cross government concerted effort which really tackles the underlying problems and breaks the cycle of homelessness for good.”
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