Ending homelessness: A message from the territorial leaders

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Territorial Leaders Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main highlight how The Salvation Army is working to bring hope and break the cycle of homelessness. 

Paul Hello. Today we’re at number 10 Princes Street in London, an Army day care centre supporting people who are vulnerable and experiencing homelessness. People who may be sleeping rough, struggling to maintain a tenancy or simply trying to find a place of safety. 

Jenine This centre is a partnership between Homelessness Services and Regent Hall Corps. Each year around 5,000 people come here for practical support, pastoral care and activities that help reduce, prevent and end homelessness. But more than that, they come into a place where someone knows their name, listens to their story and sees more than the label that has been placed upon them.  

Paul And of course, just down the road, at No 10 Downing Street, homelessness is receiving national attention. The new prime minister has committed to ending rough sleeping in England. 

Jenine We welcome that focus, because homelessness is a matter of social justice and human dignity. We’ve written to Andy Burnham to say that The Salvation Army will play its part, working with him and others to help end rough sleeping, not just in England but wherever it’s happening. No one should have to sleep on the streets and everyone needs a place to call home. 

Paul For more than 160 years, The Salvation Army has walked alongside people experiencing homelessness in all its forms. Through our Lifehouses, our corps, our community centres and specialist programmes, we see the courage, the resilience and potential of people rebuilding their lives. It's a beautiful example of breaking ground and bringing hope. Stepping into hard and difficult places with faith, compassion and practical action, believing that cycles can be broken and new hope can root. 

Jenine Transformation happens through relationships, because behind every experience of homelessness there is a person, someone whose story may include trauma, poor health, isolation, poverty or other challenges. Our calling is to notice the person behind the label. Not ‘the homeless’, but a son or daughter, a mum or dad, a friend, a child of God. 

Paul So when we talk about homelessness, we’re not simply talking about circumstances or statistics. We’re talking about people. People who need to be heard, valued and loved. Jenine and I have seen, again and again, that hope often begins when someone is truly seen, when their name is spoken, when their story is honoured and their future is not written off. 

Jenine In Luke Chapter 4, Jesus takes up the words of Isaiah and says he has come to proclaim good news to the poor and to set the oppressed free. As followers of Jesus, we are called to recognise each person’s God-given value, and work for communities where people can flourish. That is holy, groundbreaking work, bringing hope in the name of Jesus. 

Paul And many of us can respond through the life of our corps and centres. Just like the brilliant work that’s happening here today, we can ask God to open our eyes in our own neighbourhoods, to help us notice the person behind the label and to give us courage to break ground where hope is needed. You may also want to mark Homelessness Sunday on 4 October, or support the territory’s campaign to end homelessness by writing to your MP. Details are available at salvationarmy.org.uk. 

Jenine And all of us can pray. Pray for people experiencing homelessness, for those who walk alongside them, for leaders and decision makers, and for communities transformed by belonging and hope. May our prayer also become action – warm welcome, practical support, persistent advocacy and faithful friendship. 

Paul We believe that a person’s current situation does not define their future. In Christ and through the care of community, new possibilities can emerge. So let us be people who break ground and bring hope, not from a distance, but close enough to listen, close enough to care and close enough to walk alongside. 

Jenine Together, let us create communities where every person is seen, known and loved, where labels fall away and where all can experience belonging, hope and the fullness of life found in Jesus.