People across the UK celebrated in style on Sunday when the Mayor of Beijing handed over the symbolic Olympic flag to London Mayor, Boris Johnson.

Jenny Edwards, Chief Executive of Homeless Link, the national umbrella agency committed to ending rough sleeping in England by the time of the 2012 Olympics, said, ‘The handover of the Olympic flag to London is a great cause for celebration. The global spotlight will be on London from now on. We have the chance to lead the world on one of the most tangible areas of social justice by building on our world lead in tackling rough sleeping and going on to end it by the time the Olympics come to London.

The race is on. There are just 1,431 days to go. Many major stakeholders already support this ambitious goal, including the Mayor of London. The Government will announce a new rough sleeping strategy in the autumn and we want to see this scale of ambition included. We call on the Government, local authorities, the Mayor of London, other city leaders and politicians of all parties to work together with the third sector to achieve this ambitious and realistic goal over the next four years.’

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. About Homeless Link

Homeless Link is the national membership organisation for frontline homelessness agencies in England. Our mission is to be a catalyst that will help to bring an end to homelessness. We see ending rough sleeping by 2012 as a significant milestone on this journey.

Our two goals are:

• To raise standards in the services that support homeless people and tackle homelessness
• To influence the development of policy, strategy and investment at all levels of government.

Homeless Link’s member organisations provide services through: hostels, day centres, outreach and resettlement agencies, housing advice centres, youth projects, health projects, welfare rights groups, regional and sub-regional homelessness networks, refuges, drug and alcohol services and church groups. www.homeless.org.uk www.endhomelessness.org.uk

Further information If you would like more information on Homeless Link’s campaign to end rough sleeping by the 2012 Olympics or if you would like to arrange an interview with Jenny Edwards, please contact: Gill Perkins, Head of Communications at Homeless Link on 020 7960 3025 or 07881 921476 or Luna Dizon on 020 7960 3026 gill.perkins@homelesslink.org.uk Homeless Link First Floor 10-13 Rushworth Street London SE1 0RB