Having aligned with a team of internationally-renowned social media marketing experts via a creative corporate sponsorship arrangement, I immediately engaged the support of my CSR partner, Susan Dolan, ‘Google Expert UK’. Together, we orchestrated a 12-month ‘Housing First’ focused movement-building campaign, which we named ‘Social Media for Social Good’.
Trialling the use of analytics and algorithms with great success, we consistently engaged and educated an established - and growing - global audience of beyond 500,000 followers and fans; our tweets alone being seen by an average of 1,000,000 users each day. Gaining the support of members of the public, charity bosses, government officials, city mayors, senior-level industry practitioners and well-known celebrity human rights activists, such as Russell Brand and Bianca Jagger, we succeeded in our aim of diverting a proportion of the negative frenzy surrounding the worsening homelessness crisis in Britain, towards a pro-active movement of support backing ‘Housing First’ inspired solutions.
I delivered intensive coaching to investors and on-the-ground practitioners, hosted live webinars and facilitated seminars and roundtable events for professional bodies and groups. I was excited to be asked to share my educational programmes with Jon Sparkes, CEO of national representative body for single homeless people, Crisis and to be recruited to guide philanthropists such as former-England footballers Gary Neville and Emile Heskey when making charitable-giving decisions. My work was also showcased as part of the Social Change Agency’s 2017 ‘Movement Watch’, supporting change-makers to create sustainable movements that transform the world.
As I prepared to preview my research evaluation at an event hosted by Salford University in April 2017, I was delighted to be invited to UK Parliament’s Portcullis House to share my findings and discuss professional recommendations with government’s Shadow Minister for Housing, Andy Slaughter. Following our meeting on 7th March 2017, I was subsequently thrilled to learn in November of the same year that several advisory points had been actioned and implemented as agreed. Namely, a specialist homelessness taskforce will be established by the Labour party to ensure that the government meets its target to halve rough sleeping by 2022, then eliminate it altogether by 2027.
Likewise, making a strong commitment towards backing Housing First and a housing-led approach towards homelessness in Britain, it was also revealed that £28 million has been set aside in the government’s 2017 Autumn budget to launch three regional ‘Housing First’ pilot schemes: In Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands. Whilst this is unprecedented, symbolic and highly pleasing progress, it unfortunately, won’t be enough to help everybody need.
To illustrate, in Greater Manchester - one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom, comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the cities of Manchester and Salford - £1.8 million is allocated, with 15 housing associations and two private rented sector landlords committed to providing 270 homes for “entrenched” rough sleepers, over a three-year period.
While this will see a proportion of those who have slept outdoors ’regularly’ over the past two years (or who are ‘well known’ to homelessness services) appropriately supported and provided with a suitable housing option; the Greater Manchester region last year saw a 41% year-on-year rise in rough sleeping, with numbers of rough sleepers on the streets quadrupling since 2010. Charities believe a more accurate reflection is around three times that recorded in the official figures.
What will happen at the turn of 2018; as the festive charitable-giving season draws to a close and cold weather provision is withdrawn, but the bitter cold still bites? Will the homeless community in Manchester largely continue to sleep in tents, tunnels and in unsafe buildings; queuing up for a hot meal and a new sleeping bag from the army of crisis-respondents and charitable helpers who assist them each night? Will there be more tragic, untimely – and some might say – preventable deaths?
Copyright © by Amy.F.Varle, January 2018.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
The views and opinions expressed in this report and its content are those of the author and not of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, which has no responsibility or liability for any part of the report.
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