On the party conference trail 2008

Jenny Edwards and Oliver Hilbery are hot on the party conference trail, highlighting to MPs and stakeholders our main campaign messages. Read the Labour party diary from Oliver Hilbery.

And check out what is going on at the Conservative party conference here.

Ending rough sleeping in Europe

The European Parliament has pledged to end street homelessness across all member states by 2015.

With 438 MEPs signing the cross-party written declaration, which was registered in December 2007, the declartion was adopted, firmly placing street homelessness on the political agenda in Europe.

Homeless Link had written to Members of European Parliament in February urging them to sign the declaration, which calls on the European Council to agree an EU-wide commitment to end street homelessness by 2015. It also calls on the Commission to develop a framework for ending homelessness.

FEANTSA has led the campaign. Find out more

Read the FEANTSA press release

Do you want to end homelessness?

Our vision document, Ending homelessness: from vision to action, was published in November 2006. It provides a skeleton framework for our goal of ending homelessness by 2022.

With housing higher on the agenda than it has been for many years, Homeless Link is working to ensure that homeless people are not missed out of the equation.

We believe it's time for change. Will you join us in calling on the government to commit to the ambitious but essential goal of eradicating homelessness? Click here to sign our e-petition.

A8 nationals & EU10s

A survey carried out by Homeless Link in September 2006 revealed that one in seven people accessing London's homelessness services is from one of the eight Eastern European accession states.

This work was a response to growing concerns from member agencies that they were struggling to respond their needs.

Since then Homeless Link has been working with a number of agencies, including the Trade Union Congress, as well as a cross-departmental group of civil servants and Consul representative from seven of the eight states.

No room to move

Homeless Link's move-on campaign heightened awareness of the lack of accommodation for homeless people who are ready to move.

A report, No room to move?, was launched in January 2005 to highlight the silt-up in London's hostels. It called for co-ordinated action on the part of local government, alongside the voluntary sector, to co-ordinate a pan-London response to the problem. Following the publication of the report, 71 MPs came out in favour of urgent action to tackle the lack of move-on accommodation for homeless people staying in London hostels.

The national report showed that 45 per cent of bed spaces across England and Wales are occupied by people waiting to move on.

Homeless Link has followed up this with a move-on plans protocol, developed in different parts of the country. Out of this came our move-on plans protocol toolkit to help local housing providers and authorities to come up with local plans for increasing move on opportunities.