SENIOR Church of Scotland leaders have teamed up with a housing charity to assess the progress made by the Scottish Government to eradicate homelessness.
The Kirk’s Church and Society Council and Scottish Churches Housing Action, a charity which helps churches and others make practical responses to homelessness in Scotland by encouraging the development of affordable housing from redundant or under used church buildings, are hosting a meeting at the City Chambers on Friday.
The meeting is to discuss if the Scottish Government is on course to meet its pledge of providing a home for almost every unintentional homeless person in Scotland by 2012.
Rev Sally Foster Fulton, vice-convener of the Church and Society Council of the Church of Scotland, will be joined by Minister for Housing and Transport, Keith Brown MSP who will make a keynote speech on homelessness.
Other speakers include Mary Taylor, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and housing activists.
Entitled ‘Homelessness: achieving the 2012 pledge?’, the event will take place at the City Chambers, Edinburgh, from 10.30am to 3,30pm on Friday 30th September. The event is free and open to homeless people, housing and support staff, volunteers in homelessness projects and campaigners, and church members.
Ends
Notes to News Desks
1) The Church and Society Council
The Church and Society’s Council remit is to engage on behalf of the Church of Scotland in national, political and social issues affecting Scotland and the world today.
2) Scottish Churches Housing Action
Scottish Churches Housing Action brings together the major Christian denominations in Scotland under the slogan, ‘No Room for Homelessness!’ It promotes the use of redundant and under-used church property for affordable housing, develops local projects to help homeless people and campaigns on their behalf.
3) Homelessness Target 2012
The Scottish Government’s target on homelessness is: “By 2012, every unintentionally homeless person will be entitled to settled accommodation.”
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