What is a Homelessness Charter, and do you need one?
A homelessness charter is an agreement to abide by a set of principles to work towards achieving a shared mission.
It’s a location-specific, public commitment that is written up and then signed by voluntary, faith, private and public sector organisations in the same location.
Simply - to make sure everyone is on the same page (literally!).
A charter facilitates everyone working together ‘nicely’
A charter might ask organisations to commit to:
It’s a way of getting people together to ensure a focused approach to tackling homelessness in a location.
Another reason you might have a charter is to clearly set out your locations ambitions for tackling homelessness. Are you setting out to end homelessness, or are you setting out to end rough sleeping? Where the scope is so broad, it’s important to be specific about the task in hand.
Well we reckon there’s not much point in reinventing the wheel.
Having said that, locations vary, and charters do, too.
We suggest rifling through these. Be a magpie, pick and choose aspects (feel free to copy and paste) to pull together something that you think will work best for your location.
Nobody knows your location as well as you, but we’re always here if you’d like a second opinion.
Some charters that we have supported: