Reducing homelessness

'We all have our own image of "the homeless", but spend some time talking to the clients of a hostel or day centre and you will discover that the great majority of people who lose the roof over their head do so as a result of a personal spiral that started in a place that any one of us could find ourselves. A big family row, maybe, or losing a job, too much drink, or depression or other mental illness. One way or another the wheels have fallen off, and it can be very difficult to get them back on again. The sense of exclusion and despair that comes from not having a home just intensifies the vicious circle. There is lots that can be done to help people avoid the "homelessness trap", as well as helping those who have fallen into it to break out. There have been some great success stories, and we need more. The more examples that employers, authorities and homeless people themselves see of people finding their way back, the easier it will be to convince people that homeless doesn't mean hopeless. And that is more than half the battle.'
Philip Richards, partner, member of our community and pro bono committee, Business in the Community (BITC) / Business Action on Homelessness leadership group member

We decided to target homelessness in 2000 because it was something that many of the people who work in our London and other offices saw on a daily basis on their way to and from work, and we recognised we could make a positive contribution to tackling it.

We have developed a multifaceted approach, supporting a variety of initiatives with the overall aim of making a lasting impact by helping to break the cycle of homelessness. To this end, we provide work experience and pro bono advice at drop-in centres, help build homes through fundraising and volunteer activities, support job coaching and informal support activities, and sponsor and contribute to the work of campaigning organisations, such as Shelter. We also support numerous team challenges at hostels and other centres for homeless people.

Local team challenges and housebuilding with vulnerably housed people

Many of our offices support team challenges for homeless people throughout the year – cleaning up hostels, serving food and helping with interview skills. We also send teams to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity – a charity which aims to tackle poverty housing in partnership with people in need of safe and decent housing. From 2001 to 2008, around 750 people from our offices have built 75 homes with the charity in Ghana, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and London, and have raised over £700,000 for the charity.

Work experience, job coaching and legal advice in London

In London, we support a programme providing work experience, job coaching, informal support schemes and pro bono legal advice. Central to the programme is Ready for Work. Through this scheme,141 homeless people have gained work experience at the firm (in the years 2001 to 2008); 15 have gone on to take up permanent work here, and others have taken up positions elsewhere.

We also give pro bono legal advice to charities working with homeless people and, on a weekly basis, to homeless people at a drop-in legal advice centre.

Shelter's Children's Legal Service

In October 2007, we announced our £232,000, three-year sponsorship of Shelter's Keys to the Future initiative, which aims to end child homelessness in the UK. With our support, the charity has established the Children's Legal Service to fight for the rights of children and young people to have their housing needs met. We take on cases where the family is not eligible for legal aid and in 2008 worked on three cases with Shelter.

Our relationship with Shelter brings together all four strands of our community and pro bono programme, homelessness, human rights, access to justice and disadvantaged young people. We hope that it will have a big impact on the lives of young people and their families in the UK.

We also work with charities including Crisis, East Potential, Emmaus, The Passage, Providence Row, St Mungo's and Whitechapel Mission. In 2008 we helped to set up an IT social enterprise for Cricklewood Homeless Concern and in 2009 we started giving work experience to those homeless people who are being trained by the social enterprise to provide IT support.

In 2008, we were delighted to receive another BITC Big Tick award for our work with homeless people.

'I enjoyed and really got many things from this placement. It actually had a purifying function for me (please do not laugh at me! It was a step in my life.)'
Participant in Ready for Work