The Crisis policy conference on “Ending Homelessness: What Needs to Change” took place on 20 April and marked the launch of our national consultation on ending homelessness.  

Over the course of the day at London’s Royal College of Physicians, hundreds of delegates heard as speakers from across Britain and beyond and debated how to define ‘ending homelessness’ and how to achieve that goal.  

In the morning delegates heard video messages from Prime Minister Theresa May, First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon and First Minister of Wales Carwen Jones who all pledged to support Crisis’ aim to put itself out of business by ending homelessness.

From the podium there were also speeches from Housing Minister Sajid Javid, who praised longer tenancies and Housing First and from his Labour counterpart Andy Slaughter who highlighted the role of housing supply and affordability.  

As well as the big political names, there were fascinating contributions from expert practitioners and academics. The founder of the American organisation Pathways to Housing, Sam Tsemberis, who is often described as the father of Housing First, gave an inspiring presentation about how the approach that he pioneered can put control back in the hands of people who are homeless. It was a sentiment echoed later in a workshop by Pat McArdle of the Mayday Trust, who described how their delivery model had changed when they began to focus on what clients can do, rather than what they can’t.

Bob Blackman, the MP who took the Homelessness Reduction Act through parliament spoke about the significance of the new law and what more needs to be done. Two Crisis members, Ash and Steven, then spoke about their experiences of campaigning in support of the legislation. The conference also heard from Juliet Mwaniki, who described how she had been turned away from help by her local council and left with no option but to sleep in Heathrow Airport.

Research presented by professors Suzanne Fitzpatrick and Glen Bramley of Heriot-Watt University gave a stark insight into the causes and future trends of homelessness.  The model they have developed shows how strongly homelessness can be predicted by other kinds of social disadvantage. While some people growing up in poor families have a 70% chance of being homeless by the age of 30, others from affluent backgrounds have less than a 1% chance.  They explained that if current trends continue homelessness is set to increase markedly…but that reversing rising homelessness is possible with political will.  

Throughout its 50th year, Crisis will be working towards a national plan to end the most acute forms of homelessness once and for all. We aim to bring together everything needed to make this happen, including consultations in all three nations and a large scale programme of research. And we’re calling for the public to join our #EverybodyIn campaign and show support for ending homelessness.

Keep up to date with all of our 50th anniversary work by following us on Twitter @Crisis_UK and join our campaign to get #EverybodyIn