St Basil’s chief joins rough sleeping advisory panel
THE boss of a leading Birmingham charity will be helping Government work on its homelessness and rough sleeper strategy.
Jean Templeton, chief executive of St Basil’s charity for young homeless people will join West Midland Mayor Andy Street, on the newly-formed Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel.
Along with national and international experts, they will advise the delivery of the Government’s aim to end rough sleeping in Britain by 2027.
They will also oversee the implementation of the ground-breaking Housing First policy for which the Chancellor set aside £28 million for pilot projects in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Liverpool last week.
Communities Secretary and Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid, who set up the panel, said: “No one should ever have to sleep rough. That’s why this government is committed to halving rough sleeping by 2022 and eliminating it altogether by 2027.
“To break the homelessness cycle once and for all, we all need to work together, drawing on as much expertise and experience as we can.
“The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Implementation Taskforce and the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel, together with the three Housing First pilots, are important steps in making that happen.”
Housing First is a policy pioneered in Finland which has delivered remarkable results in combatting rough sleeping.
Under the policy rough sleepers are offered a stable home first and then given support to tackle addictions and find training or work.
Members of the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel include: Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, a leading charity focussed on rough sleeping and single homelessness Polly Neate, chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter, who brings her expertise on domestic abuse as a driver of homelessness Jean Templeton, chief executive St Basil’s, a West Midlands based charity that helps 16 to 25 year olds who are homeless or at risk of homelessness Mark Lloyd, from the Local Government Association Mayors for Manchester Andy Burnham and for the West Midlands Andy Street Peter Fredriksson, a homelessness advisor to the Finnish government which has successfully piloted the Housing First approach