What's New?

• Homeless Link has been funded by the Oak Foundation to carry out a three year research and innovation project, looking at why evictions and tenancy abandonments happen, testing solutions, and disseminating good practice. Frequently asked questions about the eviction and abandonment project

• The It's Your Move website is produced by Broadway to support sustainable living and maintenance of tenancies. It contains a series of free resources including training modules on pre-tenancy, managing a tenancy, money management and independent living skills.
• The Amber Foundation has produced Practical Housing Units - a comprehensive package of 10 individually accredited (AQA) units. These units can help students of all abilities to achieve sustainable independence and have the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding to maintain a tenancy, live a safe and healthy lifestyle, and achieve financial stability. For more information see our lifeskills page

• New POVA information - Information on how the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) scheme will change from November 2008 is now available on the Department of Health website. To visit the site, click here. Changes to the Protection of Children Act (POCA) will be similar and information can be found on the ISA website.

• Free legal briefing - SupportActionNet has published a 10-page free legal briefing on data protection and freedom of information for professionals working with vulnerable people. To download a copy click here

• ID made easy - The SAFE (Services Against Financial Exclusion) project at Toynbee Hall has published a new guide, detailing different ways of proving your identity when accessing various services. The comprehensive ID Guide, supported by Barclays, covers identification and address verification documents for accessing banking, benefits, health services and housing.

• Outcomes News - including a new system and training dates in the Outcomes section

Updates in the Develop your Service section

• Read Homeless Link's new Commissioning briefing, explaining the processes of commissioning and procurement and with advice for organisations to best navigate the process.

• Communities and Local Government (CLG) has announced that the 15 social enterprises competing for for a £500,000 prize fund through Spark are all winners! Read more.

• Homeless Link announced the winners of the Michael Whippman and John Laing Charitable Trust Day Centre of the Year awards.

• Homeless Link has published a report into housing organisations' use of outcomes measurement systems.

Homeless Link training

• Our short training courses provide essential skills for staff at all levels.

• Homeless Link has launched a new service to enable member organisations to have a complete training needs analysis for staff.
• Do you find that Homeless Link's scheduled courses are too far away or beyond your budget? Our Consortium training is designed for you.

• Leading places of change is a leadership programme for service managers in the homelessness sector. It has been developed jointly by the Chartered Institute of Housing, Homeless Link and Broadway and is funded by Communities and Local Government.

Please note Homeless Link no longer delivers qualifications

Moving people forward

See our pages on helping homeless people move forward with keyworking, motivational interviewing, therapies, etc. Find out how hostels, day centres and social enterprises can become places of change and how arts, lifeskills training, and meaningful occupation can contribute to successful resettlement.

Running your service

The Running your service section covers organisational issues for service providers: Management and Governance; Funding; Investing in Staff; Quality and Outcomes. Key good practice issues are Couples, Diversity and Service User Involvement.

For any comments about this section please contact charlotte.potter-powell@homelesslink.org.uk