Homelessness body response to Cabinet re-shuffle

05 May 2006

Responding to today’s announcement that Ruth Kelly will be Secretary of State for Community and Local Government, Jenny Edwards, Chief Executive of Homeless Link, the national umbrella body for homelessness services, said:

‘Over the last nine years the Government has made significant progress in tackling homelessness and some of its most appalling manifestations - rough sleeping and families in bed and breakfast. The department, working with the voluntary sector and local government, has shown that partnership, insight and determination can deliver real social change in challenging areas.

‘We look forward to working with Ruth Kelly as Community and Local Government Secretary and indeed with the new Cabinet Minister for Social Inclusion, Hilary Armstrong, to build on this strong foundation, to raise the game and be even more ambitious. There is, perhaps uniquely in the world, the real potential for this country to end homelessness: to tackle once and for all the factors that feed it and to provide the support that will enable the most marginalised people to move on, to regain control of their lives and their future at the same time as they find a settled home.’