Manchester Homelessness Partnership Newsletter: December 2022

Welcome to the Manchester Homelessness Partnership’s December newsletter!

December 2022

As Christmas and the New Year approaches, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all homelessness services and partner organisations across Manchester for your tireless work this year.

We hope you have a great festive season,  and we look forward to seeing what 2023 has in store for the MHP!

Festive opening times and key closures:

Follow @McrSalford on Twitter for the latest information, and check out the Manchester City Council website here for a full list of services.

Booth Centre: Open Christmas Day, 28th – 30th December.
Closed 24th, 26th – 27th December.

Coffee4Craig: Open 1st & 2nd January, 11am to 7pm.
Closed 23rd – 28th December.

Cornerstone: Open Christmas Day 10-13:30.
Closed 26th – 27th December, 2nd January.

Lifeshare: Open 23rd December – 1st January.

Mustard Tree: Open 24th December, 31st December.
Closed 25th – 30th December, 1st & 2nd January.

Reach out to the Community: Open 23rd – 24th December, 28h – 31st December.
Closed 25th – 27th December, 1st & 2nd January.

Action Group Updates

Thank you to everyone who came along to MHP meetings this month – new Action Groups, such as the Prevention Group (pictured) and Non-UK Nationals group had their first meeting, while existing Action Groups continued to meet and develop.

Upcoming dates:
Please contact us if you’d like to come along.

Non-UK Nationals: Monday 9th January, 10:00 – 12:00, Booth Centre
Prevention: Monday 9th January, 13:00 – 15:00, Location TBC
Emergency and Temporary Accommodation: Friday 13th January, 10:00 – 12:00, Booth Centre
Women’s Homelessness Involvement Group: Wednesday 25th January, 10:30 – 12:00, Location TBC

If you haven’t already, please sign up here to join an Action Group(s), and please share with your networks and anyone you think might be interested!

Spotlight on … Employment Action Group (EAG)

Aim: To create new pathways into work for people who have experienced homelessness, through uniting people with personal experience of homelessness with business and charity sector organisations.

Past project: Between April 2016 and March 2022, Business in the Community and the Booth Centre’s Employment Service Partnership supported 598 people into employment, with 53% of them sustaining employment after 3 months. 

Get involved: The group invites employers to step up and be part of the solution and support people into employment. If you’d like to have a conversation or attend the next meeting, please contact chair Chris Gopal (chris.gopal@bitc.org.uk), Ready for Work Manager, BITC.

Call for co-chairs

The Employment Action Group are looking for a co-chair with personal experience of being homelessness to help lead the group. Please get in touch with Chris (chris.gopal@bitc.org.uk) for a chat if you are interested. 

Consultation: What’s next for the MHP?

At this quarter’s Board meeting, we looked at the purpose, role and structure of the Board, with the goal of re-shaping it in 2023 to make it more effective in supporting the Action Groups. 

Neil, Partnerships Manager at Barnabus, is currently consulting organisations and individuals on the successes and challenges of the MHP. If you’d like to get involved, please contact Neil on neil@barnabusmanchester.co.uk.

Introducing Rob McCartney, Assistant Director of Homelessness (Manchester City Council)

“I’ve worked with homeless people since I was 18, when I started as a volunteer hostel worker (£42 pay per week for 48 hours work) at a service for rough sleepers. I previously worked for Central Government (DLUHC) as the Senior Homelessness Adviser for the North, Midlands and East of England, working with local authorities to improve the delivery of homeless and rough sleeper services. Before starting work with DLUHC I was a head of service at Leeds City Council, covering homelessness, adaptations, private sector standards and Gypsy Traveller services.  

One of my priorities since I started at Manchester has been to engage with partners to see how we can best work together, and I’m looking forward to seeing how we can do this in the best way that helps homeless people.”

Events & Resources

Manchester Homelessness Awareness Event
8 January 2023, 11:00 – 15:00, Wythenshawe Forum

Reach Out To the Community are organising a Homeless Awareness Event in January 2023, aimed at educating the public about what services are available for people experiencing homelessness in and around Manchester.   

Partners confirmed so far: Barnabus, Booth Centre, Caritas, Change Grow Live, Coffee4Craig, DWP, Reach out to the Community, Real Change MCR, Street Engagement Hub, MASH, Manchester Homelessness Partnership, Manchester City Council, Mustard Tree, Lifeshare, Urban Village Medical Practice 

Rising Stars Fund – for young people who have been homeless
Applications reviewed on a rolling basis

We Love Manchester’s Rising Stars Fund supports ambitious, talented 15 to 22 year olds (or up to 25 years old with lived experience of homelessness) – through funding vital equipment, training and resources to enable them take their next steps to success in work, qualifications or entrepreneurship. They are particularly keen to receive more applications from people who have experienced homelessness.

Please direct any enquires about the fund to Marie on welovemcrcharity@manchester.gov.uk or give her a call on 07929823375. 
 

Our Manchester Food Partnership – Small grants scheme 

Manchester City Council have a new food support grant, for organisations providing food support within communities, in the 11 wards that have been identified as those that are likely to be most affected by the Cost-of-Living Crisis. The application process is now live via the Our Manchester Food Partnership page, including the list of eligible wards and what the grant can cover. 

We are at crisis point’: housing advice organisations call on policy-makers to take urgent action

Greater Manchester Law Centre and Shelter have co-written a letter to policy-makers across Greater Manchester region to highlight the dire state of the housing crisis this year. They have written demands for urgent intervention from the government and other authorities to prevent the crisis from worsening, and to fund the systems that are at breaking point due to the scale of the need for housing services this winter.
 
If you would like to sign up to our demands, please sign this open letter: https://forms.gle/gkzQkSTE1LhUjhUR6