Come to the Crisis Fringe at the Conservative Party Conference

Martine Martin, Campaigns and Political Engagement Manager

17.09.2018

Delighted to be making my debut on the Crisis blog on a subject close to my heart - namely, exploring how ending homelessness can be achieved through political will.  

As part of our Everybody In campaign, Crisis will be holding a fringe at the Conservative Party Conference on building public and political support for ending homelessness. Jon Sparkes, our Chief Executive, will have four prominent Conservatives in the hot seat to take a closer look at the barriers which are collectively preventing an end to homelessness, and I’m particularly pleased that the Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Nigel Adams MP, will be there to share his insight. 

Candidate for London Mayor and the Conservative Policy Forum Champion for Social Housing Tenants, Cllr Joy Morrissey, will also be present to lend her views on the issues involved, as will Bob Blackman MP, the backbencher behind the Homelessness Reduction Act, and Will Quince MP, the Conservative Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness.  

If you haven’t heard, Crisis has published an in-depth, fully costed plan to end homelessness in Great Britain. If it was adopted it in full, the policies would cost an estimated £9.9bn to deliver over ten years… and deliver benefits worth £26.4bn, as per projections from PwC.  

So, if it isn’t simply an issue of costings, why is it that almost 160,000 households are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness across Great Britain right now? 

Are we stuck in a chicken and egg scenario, with a lack of belief from the public that homelessness can be ended dissuading politicians from taking the sort of bold action needed to achieve that aim? Or could it be that the public are being moved to apathy by a perceived lack of action on their very concerns on the issue, in turn taking the urgency out of the situation for politicians?  

Why, when the Government is spending £1.2bn through to 2020 on homelessness, are we still seeing so many people hitting crisis point, their lives completely derailed? 

Given the enormous and undeniable human cost involved, the question we will ultimately delve into is, what will it take for the Conservative Party to make a commitment to end homelessness - in all its forms? And what can we, the public, the sector, the grassroots, do to push for this commitment?  

There will be time for some audience questions as well and breakfast refreshments will be available. 

Join us on Tuesday 2nd October, from 8am to 9:30am, in Hall 8b of the ICC.  

This is not one to be missed.