Category: Events

I Have Never Looked Back!

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This week marks the first birthday of All in for Change! 

All in for Change wouldn’t be what it is today without the passion of the Change Team. It is their unique skills and personalities which drive the programme and influence change.

Alison Kennedy reflects on here experience of being part of this collaborative team:

In December 2019, I was successful in becoming a Change Lead for All in For Change after my manager suggested I would be a good addition to the team. My key skills include my ability to collaborate across housing, health and social care, addictions services, justice and the third sector. I am highly skilled at working outside and across traditional boundaries and always try to develop joined up approaches. I am naturally good at this as I am a positive, outgoing person with a down-to-earth nature that enables me to form effective relationships with a range of stakeholders. I am glad to say my skill set has been complimentary to the aims and vision of All in For Change and I am thankful I applied, and I have never looked back! I am passionate about working in homelessness services and about promoting a culture that embeds kindness, dignity and compassion. Since working in social services, I have developed better awareness of the shame, stigma and isolation that people who experience homelessness can feel and understand how important it is for us as a nation to be well-informed and well-trained in responding to trauma, addictions and mental ill-health. It is really exciting to be part of a group of people who are on the same page and be involved in something where I can work with others who share my passion to effect real change.

Being a Change Leadhas been such a fantastic opportunity to begin to build relationships with people  who have lived experience of homelessness and who work in homelessness and to join forces to influence policy and strategy and make strides in turning that into real change on the ground. It has been great working with people who share the same knowledge and understanding of the root causes and drivers of homelessness, and the importance of social connections in a persons’ life as well as an understanding as to how these relationships act as a mechanism to tackle and end the cycle of homelessness. It feels like we are in something together that has the potential to be worthwhile and bring about change.

One of the highlights of being a Change Lead has been the monthly retreats where we get together for the day to hash out of plan of action. Both the ones we managed to have in person in Falkirk and the subsequent ones online as a result of Covid have been excellent. I have been able to get to know people who have lived experience which has been profound and humbling. Now, I am continuing to build on the connections I have made and am excited to join forces with my fellow Change Leads. For example, William Wright from Shelter and I are collaborating to further improve our respective services and really show what joined up working is all about. I have also worked in partnership with Viki Fox from Cyrenians and the thought of how much more we can do together is refreshing and a real opportunity we can’t miss. Together, we have been able to break down so many of the usual barriers to effective joint working and work towards our shared goals which the Change Team has solidified.

I have had countless opportunities being a Change Lead, one of the biggest for me so far was being invited to speak alongside other professionals about the importance of relationships at the ‘Safe As Houses’ Scotland’s Annual Homelessness Conference in November which I absolutely loved and would recommend to anyone to get involved if the chance arises. There really is no better opportunity to be able to speak to others about what you are passionate about and what you bring to the table. For me, this is where I feel I have the biggest influence as people get the chance to hear what I have to say and can decide to get on board with me for real partnership working and collaboration.

New System Alliance Launch: Monday 30 Nov

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The New System Alliance will launch on Monday, with a week-long series of online events to explore new ways forward for cross-sector system change in the UK.  

The aim of the Alliance is to provide an opportunity to listen, to be heard and to look at solutions to bring about total system change. It will act as a home for those who have felt frustrated, unheard or invisible, whether coming from a place of direct experience or working in services, funding and commissioning.  

This initiative was built on the voices heard from people trapped in this failing system. In these conversations people shared their honest experiences of homelessness, social care, mental health, and criminal justice systems – their wisdoms. The response was overwhelming, highlighting many situations where systems have become a barrier that people needed to be overcome in order to move on with their lives. 

Homeless Network Scotland are proud to join partners across the UK to support people to take control, and together make systems work better for everyone. 

Please join us to celebrate the launch of this empowering initiative by registering to attend these free events: https://newsystemalliance.org/

Acronyms Aweigh! HARSAG And EHT For Frontline Workers

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Join us on Tuesday 8 December 1-4pm for our latest members’ event, Acronyms Aweigh! HARSAG and EHT for Frontline Workers.

The Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) made over 100 recommendations in July 2020. Scottish Government and COSLA included these in the new Ending Homelessness Together (EHT) plan published in October 2020.

We will be hosting this free reflective workshop for frontline workers from all sectors across Scotland to explore these new priorities and what they mean for people working every day in frontline roles.

We will provide an overview of the HARSAG recommendations and how these were carried into the EHT plan. And reflect together on what the four main themes – prioritise prevention, settled housing options, equalities competence and responsive systems – mean for people working in direct frontline roles.

The event will take place on Microsoft Teams, so if you wish to join us please register here.

We hope to see you there!

Save the Date: UK movement to change the system launch: 1 December

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The UK-wide New System Alliance is a response to the experiences of people going through tough times. That the systems people need to navigate are at their most rigid when they should be at their most flexible. And whichever door people enter is often the label they have stuck on them – mental health, addictions, offending, homelessness… 

The New System Alliance has also been driven by what was heard through a series of workshops and seminars over the summer titled Wisdom from the System. Driven by evidence that current systems people encounter when they go through tough times are not working and need to change, learning from these workshops has informed next steps. 

After years of listening and learning from the realities of people’s lives Mayday Trust, Changing Lives, Homeless Network Scotland and Platfform all recognised the same problem – one of the biggest challenges people face going through tough times is the system itself. Funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, the New System Alliance will be a place for those who feel there is something wrong with the current systems for people experiencing tough times – and want to take a role creating a better, fairer one.

Save the date, 1st December 2020 for a week of online events where we will be exploring systems change, hearing from a variety of voices and provide the opportunity to challenge, discuss and reflect. Watch Homeless Network Scotland’s website for more information and on social media at @HomelessNetScot

Safe As Houses: Day 3 Round-up

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The risk and impact of homelessness is not distributed equally. Some groups of people are more affected by, overrepresented in, or excluded from the homelessness system. 

This morning we kicked off the final day of Safe As Houses by exploring how homelessness discriminates in the same way as the pandemic and the consequences of this, including how this health, social and economic inequality affects us all and what levers we can pull to increase equality and advocate for a fairer society for all of us. 

A discussion with Ruth Robin (Portfolio Lead (Place, Home & Housing), NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland) explored the importance and practicalities of joined up working across housing and health, particularly now that the pandemic has shone a light on the relationship between health and home.

We were thrilled to welcome Eloise Nutbrown (Policy Manager, COSLA), who launched the Everyone Home Collective’s latest route-map, setting out a new future for NRPF and the people it affects in Scotland in our session on ending destitution and protecting human rights. You can find out more about the route-map here

Homeless Network Scotland Change Lead, Michelle Major, hosted Deborah Hay (Policy & Partnerships Manager, Joseph Rowntree Foundation), Pam Hunter (Chief Executive, Say Women), Peter Kelly (Director, Poverty Alliance), Elodie Mignard (Programme Manager, Scottish Refugee Council andHomeless Network Scotland Board) and Ruth Whatling (Team Leader, Scottish Government) in a live lounge discussion exploring what it will take to create safety and equality in Scotland. The speakers touched on both positive developments that we can build on, as well as obstacles to creating a fairer and more equal society.

The afternoon’s theme “If We Don’t All Row, The Boat Won’t Go!” centred on how we each find our role to make a collective impact on homelessness, and the perceptions of wider society and its role in preventing homelessness before it happens.

Scotland has corrected its course to resolve homelessness with a new method, a national plan and 32 local plans. The new direction that all partners are now navigating promises better and more cost-effective results, but many obstacles to change still persist. 

The spoken extract from a new book by award-winning journalist and author Mary O’Hara offered an insight into one of these obstacles; the toxic poverty narrative that often pervades conversations around homelessness. How we can overturn the deep-rooted portrayal that poverty is caused by personal flaws or ‘bad life decisions’ rather than policy choices or economic inequality is the central question of “The Shame Game”, and indeed a question that all of us working to end homelessness in Scotland grapple with. 

The challenge of overcoming established narratives was also a central theme of the live lounge discussion which followed. Hosted by Carolyn Sawers (Deputy Chief Executive, Corra Foundation) and featuring Catherine Ashford (Strategic Communications Project Manager, Crisis), Fiona Garven (Director, Scottish Community Development Centre), Sylvia Douglas (Founding Director, MsMissMrs), Hannah Green (Lived Experiences Specialist, Centre for Homelessness Impact) and Twimukye Mushak (Senior Fieldwork Development Officer, Poverty Alliance), this discussion explored how the framing of homelessness and public perceptions have changed since COVID-19. 

In the second launch of the day, Dr Beth Watts (Senior Research Fellow, Heriot-Watt University) unveiled important new research which aims to capture the scale and type of supported housing that is needed in Scotland, within a culture that remains open to choice, options and rights. 

Representatives from the Change Team, an inspiring group of people with personal and frontline experience of homelessness in Scotland, hosted the next session, with a special surprise especially for Safe As Houses delegates!

The Everyone Home Collective, Scotland’s Housing First Pathfinder and the Glasgow Alliance to End Homelessness – along with input from delegates on the day – shared thoughts and ideas on what can we learn from those reaching across sectors and professional boundaries to make a collective impact. With the takeaway message that ending homelessness in Scotland is possible if we work together on what works and what matters, this inspiring session helped us to rethink how we move towards a new culture of collective leadership and impact.

The day – and conference – drew to a close with a unique and thought-provoking goodbye story from Ishbel Smith (Founder, Heart in Mouth). 

Across all three days of debate and deliberation, Safe as Houses provided an opportunity to reflect on the impact of the ongoing pandemic on housing and homelessness in Scotland. It has been a celebration of the extraordinary efforts across all areas – from colleagues on the frontline walking alongside people during the crisis, to policy makers shifting focus to protect people most at risk.

Crucially, it has also been a moment for us to come together to consider the aftermath of the pandemic and explore the challenges ahead – some new, some familiar – where we will need to sharpen our focus on housing supply and deepen our competence on inequality. We hope that you, like us, feel that across these three days we have laid the foundations of a shared understanding of how we can all move forward, together. 

Thank you to everyone who helped make the final day, and all three days, of Safe As Houses such a success. 

If you missed out, highlights and shared learning will be available on our social media channels over the coming weeks.