London Launch of Labour Campaign to End Homelessness

Labour Campaign to End Homelessness London Launch

• Tuesday, 24 November, 18:00
• Diskus Centre, Unite House, 128 Theobald’s Road, Holborn, London. WC1X 8TN

We are very pleased to invite you to the first major Labour Campaign to End Homelessness event, our London Launch!

The Labour Campaign to End Homelessness will be working with Homeless charities and MPs alike in the coming years, to build viable policies to actively work towards ending homelessness by 2030, that we hope the Labour cabinet will endorse in their 2020 manifesto.

At the launch we will have speakers from our campaign, as well as James Murray (Executive Member for Housing and Development for Islington council), representatives from UK charities Crisis and London based St Mungo’s and Jon Glackin of Streets Kitchen.

We invite you to join us in discussion, to show your support in our ongoing campaign and we welcome any volunteers and suggestions you may like to put forward to help us progress in our mission to end homelessness.

Light refreshments will be provided.

*** UPDATE ***

When originally organising our launch, we had raised some money amongst ourselves to purchase banners and alcoholic beverages for the event. We have now decided that we are going to use this money to purchase a large thermal container, food and vital supplies to distribute to the homeless on an outreach mission after the event.

When the launch comes to a close, we will be taking to the street with homeless outreach teams Todos and Streets Kitchen. We welcome anyone who would like to join us and urge attendees to bring along any non-perishable food, socks, gloves, sleeping bags, toiletries etc for us to distribute on the streets.

For further information please contact us via our Facebook Page, on Twitter @LCEH2030 or email our chair atcllr.sam.stopp@brent.gov.uk.

 

Labour List | Labour Campaign to End Homelessness

04 August 2015

Why we’ve launched ‘The Labour Campaign to End Homelessness’

This article is written by Sam Stopp and Dr Martin Edobor 

The last Labour government achieved a great deal for disadvantaged people. That is something all Labour members should be able to agree on, regardless of where in our movement we place ourselves. Whether you call yourself a Blairite or a Corbynista, you cannot seriously deny that between 1997 and 2010, Labour changed millions of lives for the better.

But for all the many schools and hospitals we built, and the children and pensioners we lifted out of poverty, it is sadly true that the inequality gap widened during Labour’s thirteen years in power. By the time of our defeat in 2010, those most visibly left behind by our society – the homeless – still numbered in their many thousands.

Naturally this situation has worsened in the five years of “One Nation” Conservative rule that has followed. Tracking the real numbers of homeless people is difficult for many reasons – not least the fact that homelessness is one of those seemingly invisible evils, hiding in plain sight next to your nearest Starbucks or your place of work. But what we do know is that it is rising. And it is rising fast.

Which is why we have set up ‘The Labour Campaign To End Homelessness.’ It is a measure of our need to reconnect with the people we came into politics to represent that no such campaign already existed. In the midst of the sea of pedantry in which the Labour leadership election is drowning, it is easy to forget that most people who join or vote for Labour do so because they want to help those who need to be helped the most.

And so our aim is simple. That the Labour Party commits in its 2020 manifesto to end homelessness by 2030. A bold aim, yes, but a simple one, too. For we believe a Labour Party intent on re-engaging the British people must do so not only with big ideas, but with ideas that can unite communities up and down the country.

As we debate amongst ourselves the future of the Labour Party in terms most people simply do not relate to, Britain’s homeless are still without shelter and warmth. The terms non-political people think in are not “left” and “right”, but “family” and “fairness”. It is therefore vital that we unite our party around core, ambitious ideas like ending homelessness, or we risk becoming trapped in the defensive, narrow politics of the past.

If Labour is to win in 2020, we should be bold about what we can do by 2030. We passionately believe that in the coming years, Labour should have as one of its central aims a plan to ensure that every British citizen not only has a roof over their head, but a place they can call home.

So, if you believe that Labour can and must inspire people again by pledging to deal with the biggest social ills, then please join ‘The Labour Campaign To End Homelessness’ today and together we can make homelessness history.

Cllr Sam Stopp (Wembley Central) and Dr Martin Edobor (Vice-Chair, Young Fabians) are co-founders of ‘The Labour Campaign To End Homelessness.’ You can tweet them at @LCEH2030

Progress Online | We can end UK homelessness by 2030

03 August 2015

We can end UK homelessness by 2030

Martin Edobor and Sam Stopp

Homelessness continues to rise and the government’s policy on housing and the welfare cap will exacerbate the situation. We are not building enough social or affordable homes, rights for those in the private rented sector are weak and landlords continue to act with impunity. This is contributing to an unstable housing sector, leaving millions of individuals and families to live with uncertainty, only a monthly rent away from being evicted onto the streets.

Due to the differences in the process of recording between national governments of the four United Kingdom nations, there are no official national figures for how many people are homeless. Local authority statistics on the number of people defined as statutory homeless or seeking emergency accommodation do, however, provide useful context. Yet, it is likely that these statistics underestimate the severity of the problem, and the recorded homelessness level is just the tip of the iceberg.

Homelessness is not simply about sleeping rough on the streets; the picture is more complex. Many people live in temporary accommodation as they have no other options available, often surviving in poor quality housing or overcrowded accommodation. People end up in this situation for a range of reasons, from the rising cost of short-term private tenancies which provide little security, to being unable to have a steady income due to wider social issues such as substance misuses or mental health problems.

The housing crisis is not purely a symptom of social ills or down to personal choices. Rouge-landlords, lack of affordable housing and limited options available to local authorities have all contributed to the rise of homelessness. We believe that these issues can and should be corrected through government policy.

‘The labour campaign to end homelessness’ was born out of frustration with government policy. Its purpose is ambitious, but simple. To end UK homelessness by 2030. As a first step towards this, we hope to persuade the Labour party to include our aim as a pledge in their 2020 manifesto.

In addition to this the campaign, will provide a forum for Labour party members discuss and debate ways in which we can tackle homelessness.

We believe that the tragedy of rising homelessness across the UK is a blight which no progressive party can ignore. Whenever Labour governments have been in power, homelessness has fallen. But we believe that the next Labour government must go further and ultimately ensure that every British citizen not only has a roof over their head but a home of their own.

If you are a Labour party member or supporter and you share our simple aim, we hope you can join our campaign and we welcome your support.

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Martin Edobor is vice-chair of the Young Fabians and Sam Stopp is a councillor in the London borough of Brent. They are co-founders, Labour Campaign to End Homelessness.