Other | 25 Apr 2011

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Communiqué: International Alliance to End Homelessness through Research, Policy and Practice
Washington, DC
USA
March 15-18, 2011

A drastic reduction in the number of people experiencing homelessness is now a key policy priority across much of the developed world. Indeed national governments, state and provincial levels of governments, individual cities and communities, and nongovernmental organizations across many countries have mobilized themselves around a common motivation to end homelessness.

To this end 26 leaders in the areas of research, policy and practice gathered from Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America to consider ways to help each other reach our national and local goals. It is clearly an area of work where an international exchange of conceptual frameworks, sound research and evidence, as z well as practical interventions may be of benefit for at least two reasons.

• In many countries a serious official commitment to homelessness prevention is still relatively recent, and so thinking, policies and practices may still be a little underdeveloped.
• There is a great diversity of approaches across countries, the relative merits of which have not yet been fully tested.

On this basis and with the firm belief that “the sum of the parts is significantly greater than the whole,” we conclude that an International Alliance to End Homelessness needs to be established as soon as possible focused around the disciplines of policy, practice and research. The initial areas of focus will include:

• Prevention of homelessness;
• Homeless youth;
• Strategies to combine housing and services; and
• The relationship between homelessness and the criminal justice system.

It will build on existing data and research across our countries and, where possible, other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and will facilitate and catalyse reflection and action.

Our mission is to assist and enhance the work of national governments, local communities, and nongovernmental organizations to end homelessness through a shared passion and commitment to high quality policy, practice and research.

We the undersigned commit ourselves to this task.

Nan Roman
President and CEO
National Alliance to End Homelessness
Washington, District of Columbia
United States of America

Frederik Spinnewijn
Director
FEANTSA
Brussels, Belgium
European Union

Tim Richter
President & CEO
Calgary Homeless Foundation
Calgary, Alberta
Canada

Michael Shapcott
Director
Affordable Housing and Social Innovation, The Wellesley Institute
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Ian Carter
Chief Executive Officer
ANGLICARE WA
Perth, Western Australia
Australia

Volker Busch-Geertsema
Coordinator of the European Observatory on Homelessness
GISS (Association for Innovative Social Research and Social Planning)
Bremen, Germany
European Union

Karyn Walsh
Coordinator
Micah Projects Inc.
Brisbane, Queensland
Australia

Jeremy Swain
Chief Executive
Thames Reach
London, United Kingdom
European Union

Felicity Reynolds
Chief Executive Officer
Mercy Foundation
Sydney, New South Wales
Australia

Jenny Edwards
Chief Operating Officer
Homeless Link
London, United Kingdom
European Union

David Wertheimer
Deputy Director
Pacific Northwest Initiative, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Seattle, Washington
United States of America

Roseanne Haggerty
President
Common Ground National
New York City, New York
United States of America

Roch Hurtubise
Directeur du département
Département de service social, Université de Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke, Quebec
Canada

Suzanne Fitzpatrick
Professor of Housing and Social Policy
Hariot-Watt University
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
European Union

Stephen Gaetz
Director
Canadian Homelessness Research Network, York University
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Eoin O’Sullivan
European Observatory on Homelessness
Brussels, Belgium
European Union

Hal Pawson
Professor
Hariot-Watt University
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
European Union

Marcia Nelson
Deputy Minister
Housing and Urban Affairs
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada

Phil Brown
First Vice President
Canadian Housing and Renewal Association
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada

Dennis Culhane
Professor of Social Policy
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States of America

David MacKenzie
Associate Professor, Institute for Social Research
Swinburne University
Hawthorn, Victoria
Australia

Andrew Hollows
Deputy Executive Director
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
Melbourne, Victoria
Australia