Homelessness & migration conference – working towards better solutions together

The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent ‘Everyone In’ scheme have shone a spotlight on scale of need for homelessness support from people with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), as well as the precarious situations that many live with. We are now in an urgent countdown to ensure that those in hotels with NRPF do not end up back on the streets when emergency housing offers end.

Alongside voices across the homelessness and migration sectors, Homeless Link's #EveryoneInForGood campaign made clear that we cannot afford to see a return to business as usual and that the NRPF condition should be suspended as a priority. Offering safe, appropriate solutions for people experiencing homelessness, regardless of their immigration status, is crucial and non-negotiable if we are to achieve our goal of ending homelessness for good.

However, even within the current legal framework, service and commissioning innovation during Covid-19 has shown that much can be done to positively support homeless migrants, including those with NRPF, and to find long-term solutions for them. Rethinking accessibility, embedding immigration advice and employment support and mainstreaming migrant destitution into strategic homelessness planning are just some of the impressive steps being taken in local areas across England.

This one-day online conference is being delivered in partnership with the Pan-London Migrant Frontline Network; facilitated by Praxis, a leading migrant charity with a strong expertise in supporting those facing homelessness through immigration advice and bespoke housing solutions.  It will provide an overview of the current picture of migrant homelessness in England, including the effects of Covid-19 and Brexit. It will showcase good practice by services and commissioners and share expertise from specialist migrant organisations and people with lived experience. It will offer practical advice and challenge on how the homelessness and migration sectors can better work together to achieve our shared goals. In addition, it will give an accessible overview of the immigration and asylum systems and the rights and entitlements of homeless migrants.

Who should attend?

Frontline workers, services and commissioners who support homeless migrants within their service or would like to.

We are going digital!

This conference will consist of one day's worth of online presentations, panel discussions and webinars, with polls, chat box and Q&A sessions to ensure you can get involved.

We are not expecting any attendees to join all sessions and instead you will be able to curate your own conference programme, mixing and matching the sessions that most interest you.  Recordings will also be available to attendees once sessions have finished, so if you missed a session you were particularly excited about you will still have a chance to watch it.

To note

• Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any requirements that will make this event more accessible to you (e.g. subtitled recordings of the sessions).  Though we will not have a solution to all requirements, we will always do what we can to try and make these events as accessible as possible. 
• This conference will have speakers providing the voices of those with lived experience of homelessness. We leave it up to the individual to choose whether they wish to share whether this applies to them when presenting.

Timings

The conference runs online from 10am until 4:30pm on Wednesday 17th March.