Homelessness charity for Guernsey explored by new forum

Guernsey does not have a dedicated charity for homelessness

A forum in Guernsey is looking into the possibility of creating a new homelessness charity.

More than 10 organisations in the island are part of the forum which has been looking into what a charity could potentially do.

It follows a report published in July on the issue of homelessness by Guernsey Community Foundation.

Leaders said there were no official figures for homeless people in Guernsey.

Alex Lemon, a social policy researcher who authored the report, has since been employed by the foundation as a policy and research lead.

She said: "We don't necessarily see a lot of sleeping rough locally, but that doesn't mean that homelessness doesn't exist."

She explained there were people "sofa surfing" and living in "very insecure accommodation".

Ms Lemon said the States did not have an official definition of homelessness and therefore data could not be collected on the numbers of people affected, but a new forum was working to "try to quantify what the Guernsey situation might be".

Jim Roberts, the foundation's CEO, said the formalised forum was made up of 11 representatives from different organisations, charities and the public sector "that regularly get together to share information".

He said: "We've investigating the pros and cons of establishing a new homelessness charity... Guernsey lacks a dedicated homelessness charity, unlike many many other jurisdictions."

Mr Roberts said they were "looking into what it might do, what its focus might be, how it might be funded".

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