Women’s homelessness on Ministerial agenda
The Rebuilding Shattered Lives campaign is already gaining momentum and I’d like to thank those who have already joined the campaign by registering to be a member as well as those who have submitted their best practice, research and work around women’s homelessness.
It is also fantastic to see that we have already had some significant campaign success! Firstly, we were thrilled that at the launch of the campaign, Grant Shapps MP the Housing Minister made a commitment to focus on women in his next cross-Ministerial Working Group on homelessness.
Then, following a visit to St Mungo’s South London Women’s Project, Shadow Minister for Equalities, Kate Green MP questioned the Housing Minister in the Commons about women’s homelessness. This spurred the Minister Grant Shapps to take a closer look at the issue, saying,
“Our [Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness] next report is very likely to be on the precise issue of the women who make up a subsection of people who are homeless”.
This is a great start for a campaign with a key aim raising the issue of women and homelessness up the political agenda.
We need to get behind this by working together as a sector to shout about and share our very best work on the issue of homeless women.
By getting involved in this campaign, we are all speaking on behalf of some of the most marginal group of an already marginalised population.
The current theme is only open until the end of August, so please get involved by joining the campaign and submitting your best practice on the Housing & Homelessness theme
It is only through a collective voice that we can energise policy and practice to drive lasting change.
Alexia Murphy, Director of New Business and lead on Women’s Strategy at St Mungo’s
