Can we solve Homelessness in the UK?

Did you know the fantastic presentations from last November’s Symposium on Politics and Religion are all now available on our Diocesan Web-site? Click here for the page. The Symposium took place on Saturday 6th November and was held online via the Airmeet platform. We hope that you find the content as fascinating as those who attended the symposium and interacted with the speakers on the day. If you would like to make a donation to support the work of the team and the diocese you can do so by clicking the donate button at the top of the page. Over these weeks in e-News, I present once again some of the talks and presentations.

We continue with the fascinating workshop led by George O’Neill: Can you solve homelessness? George is the Chief Executive of the Cardinal Hume Centre in London that works to tackle youth and family homelessness, supporting homeless young people, homeless and badly housed families and people from the community with little or no income. The Centre helps people identify the skills, tools and confidence to break out of poverty and build better lives. Last year it helped more than 1100 people. In this workshop, he asks: Is there really a solution to homelessness in the UK? In a world of housing shortage, increasing housing costs and growing poverty, is homelessness inevitable and might it be better for the Church to put its resources elsewhere? He explores the issues, discusses some of the implications and lessons from the pandemic and reflects on what the distinct response of the Church might be. He argues that while homelessness might be predictable, it need not be inevitable and part of the solution might be found in the very roots of the Church’s social teaching.

George O’Neill Workshop
George’s background is in communications.  He has held senior advisory and leadership roles in the homelessness sector, higher education and Government, where as a Senior Civil Servant he was a Government press advisor and led Whitehall media teams.

Immediately before his time at the Cardinal Hume Centre, George joined L’Arche, the international federation for people with learning disabilities.  He led its community in London where he helped stabilise its finances, develop its focus and led a significant capital fundraising campaign.  He is passionate about leading collaborative and values led teams.