Beginning any new role is always both exciting and daunting but particularly so when it’s dealing with such a complex and important issue such as homelessness. I must admit, when I joined the Simon Community back in August,
"I naively underestimated how serious of an issue homelessness is. I was shocked to learn that 1 in 33 people in Northern Ireland are experiencing homelessness and that over 88,880 people are currently waiting for a safe place to call home."
And shocking recent statistics show that the number of children living in temporary accommodation has doubled in just five years to just over 5,300 children, most of whom are under the age of 10.
"It’s clear that change is urgently needed."
That’s why Simon Community have decided to take a more deliberate approach to our public affairs and lobbying work. We know that in order to achieve true systemic change and end homelessness for all, we must use our platform to change the narrative about homelessness, amplify the voices of the people we help and use research and data to campaign for evidence-based solutions to the housing and homelessness crisis.
Yet we know that we can’t do this alone.
"Addressing homelessness requires a collective effort."
We need to collaborate across sectors, engage with politicians and policy-makers and mobilise public support to demand change.
Over the past few months, we’ve been working hard to build relationships with elected representatives to advocate for positive change for people experiencing homelessness. From attending party conferences to meeting with the Communities Minister to inviting MLAs to visit their local service, we have brought the issue of homelessness, and how we can work together to address it, to the forefront of the minds of decision-makers.
And it’s hopeful to see that the message seems to be getting through. It was encouraging to see the Government take decisive action earlier this year by identifying, for the first time ever, the expansion of social, affordable and sustainable housing as an urgent and immediate priority in the draft Programme for Government. (If you want to learn more about what we think about the draft Programme for Government, you can read our consultation response here).
In a recent Assembly Debate to mark Homelessness Awareness Week 2024, MLAs from every political party spoke about the need to work together to tackle the homelessness crisis in Northern Ireland. And most recently, the Minister for Communities published the long-awaited Housing Supply Strategy which sets out the roadmap for how we can deliver more homes in Northern Ireland over the next fifteen years.
"This is all positive and welcome – but we now need to see the required funding and resources allocated so we can deliver meaningful change in terms of affordable housing and homelessness prevention."
As we look ahead to 2025, I’m looking forward to further developing our research based policy positions – setting out what Simon Community thinks about key issues in housing and homelessness and most importantly, providing robust arguments and solutions for how we can address these issues. I also want to further build our relationships with decision-makers, influencers, political parties and other partners so that we can work together to achieve our shared goal of ending homelessness in Northern Ireland.
"And most importantly, I want to amplify the voices of the people we help and ensure they are central to decision-making as who is better placed to help identify what change is needed than those most impacted by poor housing and homelessness."
Simon Community remains determined in our commitment to ending homelessness. And I’m hopeful that, by working together and doing things differently, we can achieve positive systemic change, ensuring that everyone in our society has a safe place to call home.
To learn more about the latest homelessness figures, click here (1hr 24min in) to hear our Director of Services, Kirsten Hewitt, discuss them on BBC Radio Ulster. For more on our public affairs and policy work, contact cathybrolly@simoncommunity.org.