Join the National Advisory Council
22 May 2018 12:55 PM
Get your voice heard as a member through Homeless Link’s National Advisory Council.
Homeless Link is currently looking for members to join its National Advisory Council. Current NAC member, Becky Elton from Changing Lives, gives her take on being part of the group.
I have been a member of Homeless Link’s National Advisory Council (NAC) for around two years. The NAC is made up of a range of senior people from homelessness organisations, large and small, and offers the opportunity to influence and help shape Homeless Link’s responses to policy.
As Operations Director at Changing Lives, I oversee a range of homelessness supported accommodation and outreach services across the North East and York, and the NAC is a valuable opportunity for me to engage with the national agenda, discuss issues with other organisations, learn about what’s going on elsewhere and input into national policy via Homeless Link.
Recent discussions have included:
- The proposed new funding model for supported housing, which revealed a diversity of views about the impact from NAC members which I think reflected the national conversation amongst providers.
- The Government’s Rough Sleeping Task Force – where the NAC members asked Homeless Link to be very clear about the disappointing lack of diversity on that panel – with no voices of people with lived experience and few organisations based outside London represented.
- Universal Credit and the ongoing impact on people and providers, to which the NAC members brought examples of where there are good relationships between homelessness services and the DWP which actually help people navigate the system, as well as sharing some of the difficulties and frustrations.
It’s also a great opportunity to hear about what other NAC members are doing, and take ideas back to my own organisation and local area. Examples of these include members being involved in European Campaigns to End Street Homelessness and sharing of different approaches to devolution in relations to homelessness and multiple needs.
I find the quarterly meetings incredibly useful and would recommend NAC membership to anyone, for its opportunity to step out of the day to day, learn and share with other homelessness organisations and have a real impact on the policies which affect the people we work with.
If you are interested in joining the NAC, please download the Terms of Reference and Nomination formhere. Please contact helen.mathie@homelesslink.org.uk or caroline.bernard@homelesslink.org.uk if you have any questions about applying.