Conservatives turn to charities for housing policy advice

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 28 May 2008

The Conservative Party has enlisted The Big Issue, Crisis and Shelter for advice on how to tackle homelessness.

The advisory group, which the party has called the Homelessness Foundation, was launched by Conservative leader David Cameron last week.

It will see the party advised by seven chief executives of main homelessness charities, and leaders of some smaller and regional groups, to help shape its policies.

The Foundation will also publish periodic research into the state of homelessness in Britain and strive to keep homelessness high on the public agenda.

Cameron said the Foundation would be “hardwired into all our thinking”.

Homelessness an election issue

“We need to make sure we’re thinking about homelessness all the time in the next two years in the run-up to the election,” he said.

“Now that we’re in control of swathes of councils across the country, we need to start putting the work that we are doing into practice straight away.”

Adam Sampson, chief executive of Shelter, said the charity was “delighted” with the Foundation, but added that: “Any serious response to the UK’s housing crisis must include explicit plans on how the Conservatives will kick-start the building of new homes, particularly affordable and social rented homes, to help thousands of struggling first-time buyers and low-income households across the country.”

Foundation 'a first step'

Leslie Morphy, chief executive of Crisis, also welcomed the Foundation but warned it “represented just a first step”. “More housing is needed,” she said. “A sustained investment of money and political will is the only way that real progress will be made.”

The Foundation’s advisory panel includes: John Bird, founder and editor of The Big Issue: Jeremy Swain, chief executive of Thames Reach; Jenny Edwards, chief executive of Homeless Link; Adam Sampson, chief executive of Shelter; Leslie Morphy, chief executive of Crisis; Tim Nichols, chief executive of Simon Community, and Charles Fraser, chief executive of St Mungo’s.

Who's Who: Vibeka Mair

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.