Published: 27 Mar 2017 by Alison Mohammed

The London Homelessness Awards are the country’s leading homelessness awards. Sponsored by the London Housing Foundation, Crisis, Shelter and the London Housing Directors, prize money is awarded to the organisations that demonstrate innovative and creative solutions for tackling homelessness in London.

Last year’s winner was the House of St Barnabas Employment Academy project, who work to break the cycle of homelessness by providing training, work experience and employment opportunities to help people to rebuild their lives. This all happens in a Georgian Townhouse in Soho, where a social enterprise is run alongside a commercial members club.

The awards are open to council departments, registered social landlords, London NHS and health related organisations, voluntary organisations or a partnership of these agencies. Projects must have been running for a minimum of six months, be London based and either improve services to homeless people, prevent homelessness or tackle disadvantage caused by homelessness. Applications for the 2017 awards open on 10th April, with a closing date of 9th May.

Shelter have been sponsoring these awards for some years now. We recognise the importance in being able to celebrate these innovative projects, and to encourage excellent practice in homelessness prevention. The Asylum Support Appeals Project based in Tower Hamlets, who won the award in 2015, said of their win: “It came at a time when government policy is particularly harsh towards homeless asylum seekers, and was an enormous boost for our staff and volunteers in recognising the hard work and commitment they have dedicated over the years”. Celebrating projects such as these and the hard work that goes into keeping them going is vital in the world of homelessness, where there isn’t always much to celebrate!

To find out more about entering the 2017 awards, and for more information on past winners, visit the LHA website.