Please email neelam.sunder@wmca.org.uk if you require further information.

Business Collaboration to Design out Homelessness

Tuesday 27th June

8am for 8:30am start closing at 10am

Mills & Reeve – 78-84 Colmore Row, Birmingham, B3 2AB

Mills & Reeve are proud to be the business representative on the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce. Since 2017 the Taskforce has been working on a wide range of issues and initiatives ranging from Housing First through to research work on children and families in Temporary Accommodation. The purpose of the Taskforce has been to Design out Homelessness, in all its forms, by identifying gaps in strategies, policies, procedures, laws, structures, systems and relationships that either cause or fail to prevent homelessness, and to identify conditions for systems change by addressing these gaps.

We are delighted to welcome Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands as our keynote speaker, who set up the Taskforce with a commitment to bring together organisations, people and resources to tackle homelessness across the region.

With the cost of living crisis continuing to affect people across the region, this event will be an opportunity for businesses to engage with the Taskforce and learn about the Designing Out Homelessness: Practical Steps for Business toolkit which was co-produced with Business in the Community.

You will hear from Andy and Jean Templeton, Chair of the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce and CEO of St Basils on how the toolkit can help now more than ever, as we collectively seek to ensure that we prevent homelessness within the region’s workforce, give practical help to employees when issues arise, and create pathways to employment for people who have experienced homelessness.

Working together, we have the opportunity to prevent and design out homelessness, keeping people in work.

Agenda

8am - Registration, networking and refreshments

8:30am - Welcome, Jayne Hussey, Mills & Reeve, Partner

8:35am - Introduction to the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce, Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands

8:50am - The role of businesses in designing out homelessness, Jean Templeton, Chair of the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce and Jessica Wilkes-Ball, Senior Sustainability Manager, Mills & Reeve and Business representative on the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce

9:20am - Businesses helping to tackle homelessness, Andreea Tudor, Operations Manager, Business in the Community and Suzanne Burton, Business Systems Director and Interim Responsible Business Lead, adi Group

9:50am - Call to action, Jayne Hussey, Mills & Reeve, Partner

10:00am - Event close