As the legacy of Crisis’ 50^th anniversary year, we plan to develop and publish an authoritative “Plan to End Homelessness” setting out what will need to be done in Great Britain if we are serious about ending homelessness once and for all – how long it would take, what investment and policies would be needed, and what role all of us will need to play. By next spring, we hope to have a document ready to put before the Governments of England, Scotland and Wales.

Only yesterday we launched new research, showing that 160,000 households are currently experiencing the most acute forms of homelessness. If we fail to address homelessness this figure will reach 392,000 by 2041. Over the next decade rough sleeping alone is set to increase by over three quarters.

Now is the time to take action. But we know we can’t do this alone.

We want to develop the Plan in collaboration with people who have been homeless themselves as well as policy makers and other organisations working in homelessness, housing, health, education and other sectors. This week we have launched a call for written evidence to find out more about what needs to change and the interventions that work best to end homelessness.

The call for written evidence covers a number of different policy themes which impact on homelessness including for example, housing supply, welfare, employment and health. Within these themes we are focusing on three main questions:

• How can we prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place?
• How can we design more effective rapid responses for people who become homeless?
• How can we create permanent solutions for people who need some form of ongoing support?

Alongside the call for written evidence, we will be running workshops and seminars to provide the opportunity for people to share their expertise and help us shape a practical and achievable plan to end homelessness for good. The dates and locations of these events will be published on our website shortly. If you would like more information about these, or wish to register your interest, please get in touch.

The survey will run until 18^th October. 

If we all work together, in another 50 years’ time Crisis - and homelessness – will have been consigned to the history books.