Business leaders experience the journey of homelessness across London

On September 18th 2007, Mike Wareing, Chief Executive Officer of KPMG International led a group of senior business leaders to experience the challenges facing the homeless in London.

These visits remind us how important it is to listen to the communities that we work with and how important it is to take action

This visit was part of The Prince’s Seeing is Believing, a national programme of visits organised by Business in the Community, of which The Prince of Wales is President. This programme invites senior business leaders on visits to see for themselves how business can play a role in tackling some of Britain's most pressing social issues in some of the UK's most deprived areas.  Homelessness in 2007 is still a major social issue in the UK, affecting an estimated 380,000 hidden homeless who are sleeping in hostels, bed and breakfasts and temporary accommodation (Crisis 2006).

The visit took the business leaders through the journey of homelessness from rough sleeping through into employment and independent living. During the visit they were able to see first hand the challenges that homeless people can face. Clients who addressed this group on the day have a range of background and personal challenges from domestic violence, substance misuse and mental health issues through to learning difficulties. All of them need to restore their self-esteem. All of them want to work their way back to independent living.

The companies who took part in this visit included:

• KPMG
• Lloyds TSB Bank.
• Dairy Crest Group plc
• Kudos Film & TV
• Ford Campbell Group LLP
• Candover Partners Ltd
• Committed Capital Ltd
• Freemandle Media

They visited a range of projects run by Look Ahead, St Mungo's, Training for Life as well as the BITC’s Business Action on Homelessness’s Ready for Work programme.

At the end of the visit the business leaders were invited to consider how their companies could get involved and address the homeless issue. This can happen on a variety of levels from pro bono business mentoring of hostel employees, job coaching a homeless client, community projects involving a homeless hostel, offering financial support or working in partnership with Business Action on Homelessness.

The projects visited included:

Look Ahead: Princess Beatrice House

Look Ahead provide housing, support and care services to a wide range of vulnerable people across London and the South East. One of Look Ahead's hostels, Princess Beatrice House, based in Earls Court, is a first stage hostel which provides support to single men and women over the age of 18 who are homeless or rough sleepers.

St Mungo's: Harrow Road Workshop

St Mungo's is an organisation helping over 10,000 homeless and vulnerable people to make life changes each year. St Mungo's runs broad ranging services from housing projects to mental health projects to training projects.

One of St Mungo's training projects is the Harrow Road Workshop. It is a structured work experience project that gives homeless clients experience in carpentry, painting, as well as helping with team building, leadership experience and time management skills.

Training for Life: Westway Centre

Westway Centre is a housing complex run by Training for Life. The centre has a "learning zone" and a community zone providing training and support for ex-service people who have problems adjusting to civilian life. Project Compass is a project run from this centre and focuses on work-orientated coaching, skills training and work experience with a job brokerage service to help find the right jobs to lead them to financial independence.

Business Action on Homelessness (BAOH): Ready for Work programme

Business Action on Homelessness, a Business in the Community programme, is a unique partnership between business, homeless agencies and the Government. BAOH aims to break the vicious cycle of 'no job, no home', through helping homeless people to find employment and achieve independent living. BAOH runs the Ready for Work programme, a unique 2 and 4 week work placement and job coach scheme which at each stage supports and affirms the return to employment.