Simon Community backs calls from NIHE for homeless legislation

NIHE calls for statutory shift prevention and support to temporary accommodation.

Simon Community CEO Jim Dennison has backed calls from the Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), Grainia Long, into the need for legislation focusing on a strategic shift towards prevention of homelessness in Northern Ireland. The new legislation would support prevention measures and help address the homelessness crisis which is growing across Northern Ireland.

Speaking about the NIHE announcement, Jim Dennison, Simon Community NI CEO, said: “I am delighted at the Housing Executive’s increased focus on – and commitment to

– preventing homelessness. This is a very welcome, positive and proactive development. Simon Community has been investing efforts into homelessness prevention for some time and advocating for this to be a legal requirement in our collective efforts to end homelessness.

“With new legislation and the support of the NIHE, we can help stop more people falling into the nightmare of becoming homeless, whilst also relieving some of the

pressure that our shelter and support services are seeing on a daily basis.”

“This will ultimately allow our staff to better align service users with a strategy which is focused on ending their cycle of homelessness and helps address individual circumstances and needs along the way.”

Simon Community NI is Northern Ireland’s leading homeless charity. Its vision is of a society where everyone has a home.

The charity’s mission is to end homelessness for people who need our help.

The Simon Community NI offers specialist support services in Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland including homelessness prevention, accommodation services, health, well-being and practice development and young people's support services.

The values of the Simon Community NI are as follows: they are non-judgemental; they exist to support clients and meet their needs; they are trustworthy and focused on ending homelessness; they e are dedicated to the people they support.

The Simon Community’s strategic plan for 2018-2023 is firstly to prevent homelessness; secondly, to provide the right support at the right time for those who become homeless; to offer options and solutions to end homelessness; and fourthly to strategically develop, support and invest in staff and volunteers.

To learn more about the services and prevention currently offered by Simon Community NI visit https://simoncommunity.org/services.