Everyone in: Play your part in ending homelessness

The Salvation Army is calling everyone to play their part in helping to end rough sleeping this Christmas.

At the end of last month, Chief Secretary Colonel Howard Russell represented The Salvation Army at the prime minister’s Everyone In for Christmas summit at Downing Street. The summit took place as the government announced in the budget it would be more than doubling its package to provide emergency and practical support for people sleeping rough, taking the government’s total investment to £874 million for England.

One of the first pledges that Andy Burnham made as prime minister was a commitment to end rough sleeping, with every rough sleeper either able to move into accommodation by Christmas or offered support to have a route out of sleeping rough. Because all people are created in God’s image and deserve dignity, we hope this ambition and momentum will help drive the long-term action and lasting change needed to end rough sleeping.

‘I was genuinely heartened to see government, faith groups, charities and businesses focused on turning ambition into practical action,’ said Colonel Howard. ‘We share the prime minister’s ambition to ensure that no one is left sleeping on the streets and we’re ready to build on our existing work to make that happen.’

The work to end rough sleeping will require sustained effort. It will take a range of forms in different settings, including prevention, increasing suitable accommodation and ensuring people have the support they need to rebuild their lives. Across the territory, Homelessness Services, divisions, chaplaincy and community programmes are supporting people experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness in a variety of ways.

In England, colleagues are currently reaching out to corps leaders to explore opportunities for corps to play their part. That includes thinking about what homelessness response they currently have, as well as what could be developed.

What could you do as a corps to support ending rough sleeping? Would you be interested in developing a day centre or providing support through a drop-in? Could you help with providing temporary shelter during extreme weather, when SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol) is activated by your local authority?

Isaiah 1:17 tells us: ‘Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.’ As an Army, we are working to give dignity, shelter and a voice to people sleeping rough. This problem is bigger than just Christmas, and there is no quick fix – read more about the Homelessness Services long-term strategy.

Whatever your corps response looks like, you can help call for lasting change by writing to your MP. We are committed to ending homelessness across the whole of the UK and Ireland, and continue to campaign across the UK to ensure everyone can access support when they need it. This includes a change to homelessness legislation in England so that rough sleepers are added to the priority need list for emergency and then longer-term housing – and, in the long-term, for the priority need list to be abolished so that everyone who is homeless can be helped. As well as asking for a commitment to a sustained investment and increase in housing stock and especially social housing, we are calling for the government to reverse the freeze on the value of local housing allowance rates to enable people claiming universal credit or housing benefit to afford to rent. To join our campaign, visit tsa.link/homelessness-campaign.

Making sure that everyone has somewhere safe and secure to sleep this Christmas is a vital first step, but there is more to be done – and everyone can play their part.

Reflect and respond

• What do or could you do to help end rough sleeping in your community? Contact the Public Affairs Unit via public.affairs@salvationarmy.org.uk to register interest as a corps in exploring opportunities.
• Write to your MP at tsa.link/homelessness-campaign.
• Find out how you can respond when you encounter someone sleeping rough at tsa.link/how-to-help.
• Pray for an end to homelessness at tsa.link/pray-homelessness.