News
Step by Step CEO, Debbie Moreton, was delighted to attend a recent reception at the House of Lords.
Organised by Homeless Link, a collaboration of over 800 charities, the parliamentary reception brought together charities and community services from the homelessness sector to meet with MPs. The event celebrated 10 years of the innovative Street Link service, which allows members of the public to send an alert to connect people sleeping rough with local support services.
Felicity Buchan MP, Minister for Housing and Homelessness, spoke at the reception, as did Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. For Debbie it was a fantastic chance to meet with MPs to talk about the issues facing young people, as well as network with fellow Homeless Link members. Debbie even got the chance to talk to Felicity Buchan about the work of Step by Step in this sector.
Debbie commented: “I was proud to represent Step by Step at such a prestigious gathering and it was fantastic to be surrounded by like-minded individuals pursuing the same goals. Homeless Link is a great organisation to be part of and it was exciting to see the work of the member charities being recognised.”
Since its inception a decade ago, the Street Link service has managed over half a million alerts about people sleeping rough and put a large proportion of these in touch with support to end their rough sleeping. As well as a chance to reflect on this achievement, the House of Lords reception was an opportunity to discuss what still needs to be done, with homelessness currently on the rise.
We welcome the PM's announcement. The funding matters, the urgency matters, and a government willing to say plainly that no one should sleep in a doorway is good news.
But if we are serious about ending rough sleeping, we cannot only wait until someone is already on the streets. We have to stop them getting there in the first place.
