Press Release

Going For Gold On Social Justice…

26th August 2008


With just 1,431 days to go, Homeless Link calls for cross-party support on ending rough sleeping in this country by the 2012 Olympics.

People across the UK celebrated in style on Sunday when the Mayor of Beijing handed over the symbolic Olympic flag to London Mayor, Boris Johnson. 
Jenny Edwards, Chief Executive of Homeless Link, the national umbrella agency committed to ending rough sleeping in England by the time of the 2012 Olympics, said, ‘The handover of the Olympic flag to London is a great cause for celebration. The global spotlight will be on London from now on.  We have the chance to lead the world on one of the most tangible areas of social justice by building on our world lead in tackling rough sleeping and going on to end it by the time the Olympics come to London.
The race is on.  There are just 1,431 days to go.  Many major stakeholders already support this ambitious goal, including the Mayor of London.  The Government will announce a new rough sleeping strategy in the autumn and we want to see this scale of ambition included.  We call on the Government, local authorities, the Mayor of London, other city leaders and politicians of all parties to work together with the third sector to achieve this ambitious and realistic goal over the next four years.’