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The Homelessness Covenant for employers

Join the Homelessness Covenant so your organisation can take a vital step towards ending homelessness.

What is the Homelessness Covenant?

The Homelessness Covenant is a set of pledges employers take to support people experiencing homelessness in the workplace.  

The Covenant was developed by Crisis in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. 

The aim of the Covenant is to support signatories to: 

  • build their understanding of what homelessness is  
  • support their employees who may be at risk of homelessness 
  • help them provide opportunities for those who have experienced homelessness

Leading businesses including Pret A Manger and Thames Water helped draft the Covenant as members of the advisory board. This is alongside those with lived experience of homelessness. 

Meet the advisory board 

 

 

Interested in becoming a signatory?

Interested in joining the Homelessness Covenant? Get in touch to book an initial call with Vicky our Partnerships Manager to discuss how your organisation can get the ball rolling.

 

Contact us

 

Signing the Crisis Homelessness Covenant has marked the beginning of a crucial journey for our employees and stakeholders. The support from Crisis and the wider employer network has significantly enhanced our understanding of homelessness and shaped our strategy to assist employees at risk of homelessness and to support community stakeholders. From comprehensive training to an invaluable toolkit, Crisis has been instrumental in guiding us through this covenant.
— Jonathan Brookes, St Georges plc

 

Benefits of joining the Homelessness Covenant:

Joining the Homelessness Covenant offers a range of benefits that empower your organisation to make a difference: 

  • Access to Resources

Gain exclusive access to our Best Practice Guide for Employers, designed to help you implement effective strategies to support people in your workforce who are affected by homelessness.  

Rydym yn awyddus i weithio gyda chyflogwyr ledled gwledydd Prydain. Mae ein Canllaw ar Arferion Gorau i Gyflogwyr ar gael yn Gymraeg. Os ydych yn siarad Cymraeg/yn rhan o gwmni efo siaradwyr Cymraeg, mae croeso i chi e-bostio homelessness.covenant@crisis.org.uk am ragor o fanylion. 

  • Webinars

Participate in webinars hosted by current signatories who share their best practices and success stories. 

  • Networking Opportunities

Connect with a network of like-minded organisations and signatories dedicated to ending homelessness. 

  • Recognition

Your organisation will be recognised as a committed partner in the fight against homelessness, enhancing your reputation and impact.

  • Brokerage Services

Connect with our brokerage service offer.

 

Becoming a signatory to the Homelessness Covenant has enabled Hays to learn collectively and collaborate with organisations who also share a social purpose and strong social ethos. Through the Homelessness Covenant, Crisis have enabled us to pilot and share best practice from ‘Project Flourish’ where we make a positive impact to the employability of young people who may not have had the same opportunities as others.
— Jamie Houlders, Project Flourish

 

The pledges

To become a signatory, employers must commit to one or more of the following pledges: 

  • Provide employment and training opportunities for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
  • Adopt fairer employment and recruitment policies and practices to support people affected by homelessness. 
  • Help end homelessness in local communities through fundraising, raising awareness, partnerships and volunteering.  

Read our T&Cs 

 

 

Frequently asked questions

A Covenant is an agreement between organisations to work together towards a common goal—in this case, ending homelessness.

The process involves reviewing our set of Pledges, agreeing to the terms, and committing your organisation to uphold them.

To join the Homelessness Covenant, please get in touch with the Partnerships Manager to discuss the Pledges and how your organisation can join the Homelessness Covenant.

The required resources vary depending on your organisation's size and level of involvement. We want to make implementing the Pledges as easy as possible. To do this, we will share ready made resources to help your organisation implement the Pledges.

You can contact your dedicated Partnerships Manager at any time for support and guidance.

Signatories receive access to resources, webinars, networking opportunities, and support from our team.

We provide guidance and resources to help you implement the Pledges effectively within your organisation.

Any organisation committed to ending homelessness can become a signatory. Please note that we conduct due diligence for all potential signatories.

There are no direct costs associated with becoming a signatory, though we encourage signatories to invest resources in implementing the Pledges. If a signatory would like to fundraise for the Homelessness Covenant or Crisis, we can support you to do so.

As becoming a signatory is not a contractual agreement, we cannot mandate in information from you however, we will send out a yearly survey to see what signatories are doing with each of the Pledges they have signed. We will also request case studies to share with others.

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