Category: Events

Annual homelessness conference 2025 programme

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Housing scarcity is Scotland’s defining issue, driving homelessness and undermining health, education, equality and community safety. Fixing it unlocks progress on every front. Scotland’s Annual Homelessness Conference 2025, It’s Personal: The human face of the housing emergency, will explore the real-world impact of and solutions to the emergency.

A fantastic line-up of experts, advocates and people with personal experience of homelessness will come together for the 2-day event – packed with must-hear keynotes, engaging and insightful roundtable discussions, deep dive breakout sessions and more.

You’ll find a link to the full programme below, but here’s a taste of what you can expect.

Keynote speakers

Eireann McAuley: From childhood adversity to inspirational activism, Eireann is fiercely dedicated to tackling inequality, injustice and poverty. As well as being a teacher, Eireann is one of Scotland’s youngest trade union officials and has been named as one of the country’s most inspiring young women on the Young Women’s Movement ‘30 Under 30’ list.

Baroness Floella Benjamin: A pioneering star of stage and screen, former host of BBC TV’s Play School, award-winning writer, campaigner and prominent Windrush voice, Baroness Benjamin has overcome adversity and prejudice since she arrived in Britain aged 10 to achieve stellar success in her career and champion diversity and childhood wellbeing.

Cabinet Secretary for Housing Màiri McAllan makes her conference debut in her new role. The Cabinet Secretary will deliver a keynote and join Breakthrough on Homelessness in Scotland – a dynamic panel session which will also offer the international perspective, academic knowledge, lived experience insight and expertise on housing delivery at scale.

Juha Kahila, Head Of International Affairs at Y-Säätiö in Finland, will share inspiration from the Nordic Homelessness Alliance, which brings together key organisations from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden with the aim of eradicating homelessness in the Nordic Region.

Hustings on the housing emergency

What will the next Scottish Government do to tackle the housing emergency? With the Holyrood election coming in May 2026, representatives from political parties will be invited to share their plans in a hustings chaired by Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson.

A celebration of our frontline workforce

Winners of the Heart of Support Awards for frontline excellence will be announced and honoured among an appreciative audience of peers, colleagues and people who have benefited from support – with short films to showcase each of the six selected nominees.

We hope you can join us at Perth Concert Hall in October – there’s a lot going on over the 2 days, as you’ll see in the full programme. Find a link below along with booking options.

Conference Programme

Celebrate the Heart of Support: nominate an outstanding frontline worker

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All over Scotland, people working in frontline homelessness services go all out to make the difference for people they support. We often hear about them, and you will have too. 

An Associate of HNS described their experience of a trusted worker as having “that one person who sticks around and sticks up for you.” 

At Scotland’s annual homelessness conference, the Heart of Support Awards will honour and highlight great work being done by people who support people during the housing emergency. 

Why nominate?

Across the 2-day event in Perth on 27-28 October 2025, we will platform a diverse range of colleagues who go above and beyond every day for people they support – to represent and celebrate this key workforce in roles including caseworkers, advisors, support workers, housing officers, social workers, coaches, counsellors and more. 

The 6 nominees who are selected will receive an award engraved with their name, a £200 cash payment and VIP entry to the conference including meals and accommodation. 

And they will have the chance to tell delegates about their work – the successes, the challenges, why they do what they do. This will be captured in a short video showreel, coproduced with the winners to be presented at the conference.  

How we will select 

This year’s conference is titled It’s Personal: the human face of the housing emergency. Across 2 days the event themes are Safe, Well, Respected and In Control, exploring the real-world impact of the emergency on people and the solutions for a better future. 

The conference themes will guide the panel to select nominees that represent all parts of the country, across all sectors and in different types of frontline roles. We are keen to hear about those who champion new or impactful approaches that get alongside people to ensure they are: 


🧡 Safe: prioritising people’s immediate safety  

🧡 Well: supporting people’s health and wellbeing 

🧡 Respected: advocating for rights and redressing inequality  

🧡 In Control: helping to increase people’s agency and financial inclusion 
 

Here’s how to nominate 

Tell us in around 150 words how your nominee’s way of working makes the difference. It could be about their persistence, methods, the relationships they build, challenging how things are done, innovating – please know, it doesn’t have to be perfect. 

Please do make sure your colleague agrees to being nominated, can meet with us ahead to create a video – and is available to be celebrated at the conference in Perth. 

Deadline for nominations! For your important entry to be considered, please be sure to send it to us by Friday 19 Sept 2025. Just click the button for the short nomination form.

Nomination form

Homelessness conference 2025: Early bird booking & speaker news

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Scotland’s housing emergency is more than stats and headlines. It’s a human issue that affects individuals, families and communities every day. This year’s homelessness conference is focused on the impact of the housing emergency on people. As the conference title says: It’s personal.

So it’s fitting that we can announce a great keynote speaker with a big personality. Someone who will inspire us all when we meet to explore how to build a better future where everyone is safe, well, respected, and in control.

Baroness Floella Benjamin: ‘Childhood Lasts a Lifetime’

A pioneering star of stage and screen, beloved former host of Play School, award-winning writer, campaigner and prominent member of the Windrush generation, Baroness Floella Benjamin has overcome adversity and prejudice since she arrived in Britain aged 10 to achieve stellar success in her career and as a champion for diversity and childhood wellbeing.

Baroness Benjamin’s keynote address, Childhood Lasts a Lifetime, is a powerful and anecdote-filled narrative of resilience to inspire us all to work for positive change.

The theme will resonate deeply with delegates, with childhood poverty still the strongest predictor of later homelessness, and 10,000+ children living in temporary accommodation in Scotland.

Sponsorship opportunities

Get your message across to an engaged and expert audience from across multiple sectors. This year we have 9 great sponsorship packages to suit all budgets and preferences. Check out options below, get in touch at hello@homelessnetwork.scot or call for a chat on 0141 420 7272.

Click here for Sponsorship options

Over two unmissable days, Scotland’s Annual Homelessness Conference 2025, titled It’s Personal: the human face of the housing emergency’, will unite experts, advocates and those with lived experience to address the real-world impacts of the housing emergency.

Dive into four powerful themes – Safe, Well, Respected, In Control – and discover cutting edge strategies, share solutions and must-hear stories:

  • Safe: Champion the approaches needed to protect people and make homes the ultimate community safety solution.
  • Well: Build the case for health and social care to integrate with housing to transform housing options and lives beyond homelessness services.
  • Respected: Uphold people’s rights and redress the inequality they face, with a bold push to shape policy before the 2026 Scottish elections.
  • In-Control: Unlock solutions to financial inclusion, choice and the active participation of people navigating homelessness.

Expect inspiring stories, evidence-based practices and practical solutions that put people first. By focusing on the human impact, this year’s conference can help build a better future where everyone is safe, well, respected and in control.

Book your spot

Homeless Network Scotland event report: Staying the course in a perfect storm

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More than 70 colleagues joined a Homeless Network Scotland online event that explored the action we need to get out of the housing emergency while ensuring people’s rights are met and best housing outcomes are achieved today and in the long term.

Attendees and contributors from across councils, homelessness, housing, lived experience and academia lent their expertise and insight to Staying the Course in a Perfect Storm: Prioritising homelessness in a housing emergency.

Homeless Network Scotland's February event, Staying the course in a perfect storm.

They were asked to consider: What do we need to Defend, Direct and Divert to ensure we have the right systems, resources and values that will drive the best housing and support outcomes for people in Scotland now, while paving the way to a better long-term future?

Put another way, what do we protect, where do we bring clarity, and what do we need to do less of? And in what order? 

As a jumping off point, we used the ‘Defend, Direct, Divert’ route-map created collaboratively by 250 attendees at last year’s annual homelessness conference (find it here, with a conference report). We need to defend the culture change that’s been achieved in homelessness over recent
decades, with progressive rights and a solid plan for moving people on from temporary accommodation and into settled homes quickly.

We need to direct and influence each other on how to make rapid rehousing a reality, how to increase housing supply, improve prevention and achieve the outcomes in the Ending Homelessness Together plan. And we need to divert time, money and effort towards doing more of what works and away
from falling back on the failed solutions of the past.

Read more on the event and some of the key takeaways we heard in a short event report.

Read the report

Seminar on intersection between violence against women and homelessness

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The Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE) is hosting a seminar to present new research on the relationship between violence against women and homelessness.

Research Fellow Dr Lynne McMordie will draw on recent qualitative research in Northern Ireland that illustrates how abuse by intimate partners, family members, and strangers can lead to both acute and chronic housing insecurity.

Many women reported being forced from their homes – sometimes fleeing multiple times – even when they held legal tenancy or ownership rights. Systemic failures, including inconsistent police responses, inaccessible or weakly enforced protection orders, and exposure to further violence within homelessness services, further entrenched these cycles of violence and homelessness.

The seminar will take place online on March 26, 2025 from 11:00am-12:15 pm.

Sign up here.