A collaboration between public, private, non-profit and community organisations from across Cambridge has launched a Charter to End Homelessness and is calling on everyone who lives and works in the area to play their part in striving to make rough sleeping and homelessness in all of its forms rare, brief and non-recurring.

Chris Jenkin, co-chair of the collaboration group and founder of It Takes A City said: “The local economy is booming, we boast Europe’s largest technology cluster, and it makes sense therefore that Cambridge should also be a place where no-one has to sleep rough and where everyone has somewhere to call home. Yet there are hundreds* of people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless in our city.”

The Charter is organised around six pillars of change, each of which the Charter collaboration group believes is essential to ending homelessness:

• Data – defining the goal, and measuring progress towards it
• Information – keeping everyone informed on actions, progress and how to help
• Housing – ensuring sufficient emergency, temporary, supported and permanent housing
• Support – building trust and collaboration in wrap-around support “for the journey”
• Health – ensuring sufficient health services and eliminating barriers to access the services
• Employment – providing opportunity and training and encouraging employers.

Cllr Cameron Holloway, co-chair of the collaboration group, and Leader of Cambridge City Council said: “While there is already a lot of excellent work being done within Cambridge to prevent and tackle homelessness, no one organisation can achieve an end to homelessness on its own. There are many and varied reasons why people become and remain homeless, and working towards this ambitious goal requires a whole-society approach, with the voices of people who have experienced homelessness at the centre. 

“While publicising and celebrating what is already being done, we want to leverage the good will and expertise of individuals and organisations across Cambridge to build a broader movement for change, move the public and media conversation away from the common stereotypes, and work together towards the goal of ending homelessness.” 

Organisations involved in devising the Charter, include: Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, It Takes a City, Centre 33, Cambridge Cyrenians, Cambridge 2030, Downing College Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICS, the Co-Production Group Cambridge, University of Cambridge, YMCA Trinity, Bidwells, Experience Cambridge, Changing Futures, Riverside, and Cambridge Ahead.

If you would like to sign the Charter and become involved in the action to end homelessness, please visit the Cambridge Charter to End Homelessness website or email info@cambridgehomelessnesscharter.org.uk