First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, will give the keynote speech at homelessness charity Crisis’ first national Scotland conference.

The event, at the Lighthouse in Glasgow on Monday 15th May, marks 50 years of Crisis work and launches a national conversation on how to end homelessness in Scotland.

The day will bring together housing professionals from across the country, alongside international speakers, policy and practice experts as well as people with direct experience of homelessness.

Speaking ahead of the conference, Ms Sturgeon said: “Tackling all forms of homelessness must be a priority for any government. Here in Scotland we have made real progress in preventing homelessness, and we now have some of the strongest rights for homeless people in the world. But we know there’s still a lot more to do.

“Of course, none of this can be achieved by government alone, and we rely on the dedication and expertise of charities like Crisis. Together we’ve made a huge amount of progress, and my pledge to you is that we will continue to work closely in the years and decades ahead.”

This interactive day will be the start of an exciting programme of activity in Scotland over the coming year to develop a plan to end homelessness once and for all. The exciting line-up of speakers is led by Crisis Chief Executive, Jon Sparkes, and also includes:

• Roseanne Haggerty, founder, Community Solutions, USA - a world leader in developing innovative community based solutions to tackling homelessness, including the 100,000 Homes Campaign.
• Mel Young, President, Homeless World Cup, and recognised as one of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
• Naomi Eisenstadt CB, the First Minister’s independent adviser on poverty and inequality, former director of the Social Exclusion Task Force.

More information and book your place