Crisis and St Mungo's form 'Strategic Alliance' to tackle homelessness

Two leading charities are joining forces in a bid to acheieve the goal of ending homelessness.

Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, and St Mungo’s, London’s leading homelessness organisation, have agreed to form a 'Strategic Alliance'.

Over the last two years the two organisations have increasingly worked together in a number of areas.

The new alliance signifies their intention to continue this partnership and look for more opportunities to do so.

In particular, Crisis and St Mungo’s will work together on the following:

• Pressing the Mayor of London, the current and any future Government to deliver on the commitments to end rough sleeping by 2012.
• Co-ordinating efforts to provide emergency accommodation during severe weather in London.
• Making the case for maintained and increased funding for specialist homeless services, particularly in the areas of health, education and employment.
• Building links between the services of each organisation to support clients and increase the range of opportunities for members of the public to volunteer and get involved.

Both Crisis and St Mungo’s consider that the interests of rough sleepers and homeless people can be best served when organisations join forces on specific issues.

There is a natural synergy between St Mungo’s, as London’s largest homelessness agency, and Crisis, as the leading campaigning organisation for single homeless people in Britain.

Both organisations have over the years developed innovative services for homeless people and will continue to do so individually and through working together.
 
Crisis’ CEO Leslie Morphy said: “Crisis and St Mungo’s have increasingly worked together in recent years on projects of mutual interest.

"This Alliance is a logical next step and signifies clearly our intention to work together where we can, bringing our respective strengths to bear.

"This will enable both organisations to do more for more homeless people through the services we provide and to have even greater impact on public policy – particularly important as we face a general election and an uncertain climate of public spending.”
 
St Mungo’s CEO Charles Fraser said: “This Strategic Alliance is an innovative example of homelessness organisations working together in order to increase their effectiveness.

"Both Crisis and St Mungo’s are financially strong and confident in their separate futures but believe this kind of working partnership will result in even better services for homeless people.

"We can each learn from each other, and the yardstick will be improving services for homeless people. We share fundamental values with Crisis, and look forward to working with them closely and strongly in the future.”