Exercise your right to vote in the West Midlands.

On 2 May 2024, people across the West Midlands are being invited to vote in the polls to elect A Mayor for the West Midlands Combined Authority A Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands  Councillors within local authority areas of, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.  (In Selly Oak and Bournbrook in […]

Give Help Campaign launches in the West Midlands

The Street Support Give Help Campaign launches in the West Midlands Did you know today is #GivingTuesday ? It seems a perfect day to launch our Street Support West Midlands #GiveHelp campaign.  Organisations across the region have listed what they need, be it items, time, or funding to help prevent people from becoming homeless, or […]

Training offer: Understanding loss and grief in the homeless sector

  In September 2023 Birmingham Hospice and Crisis Skylight Birmingham partnered to pilot a new training programme “Understanding loss and grief in the homeless sector”.   The three-hour bereavement awareness training programme was co-designed with agencies who support those experiencing homelessness and is currently being run FREE of charge across Birmingham and Solihull.  Feedback from the […]

Tackling homelessness – it’s everybody’s business

The WMCA Homelessness Task Force have shared their thoughts about why homelessness is everybody’s business. Read to find out how you can ‘Find Help’ and ‘Give Help’ To a lesser or greater extent, the cost of living crisis is affecting most of us on a daily basis with the cost of essentials like food, rent, […]

WMCA Rough Sleeping Initiative Regional Training Programme 2023-24

The West Midlands Combined Authority Rough Sleeping Initiative seeks to add value and complementary outcomes to the work of our Local Authority and wider partners. To build upon the good work established in recent years, we are delighted to share details about our new regional training programme. This exciting training offer is not open to […]

Street Support Launches in West Midlands

Following huge successes in other cities across the country, Street Support West Midlands has now been launched and is already rapidly becoming the key live portal for accurate up‐to‐date information for people experiencing homelessness and for support workers working to help meet people’s needs. Street Support West Midlands is continually updated by the city’s key […]

New Rough Sleeper Outreach Team for Solihull

By Sophie Perrett, Rough Sleeper Manager, Solihull Councill In October, Solihull saw the start of a new Rough Sleeper Outreach Team. Funded through the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLHUC) Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) grant programme, the team will build on existing outreach work by targeting new hotspots of homelessness and rough sleeping in […]

No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) Conference

By Eliz Hopkins On Wednesday 19 October 2022 I had the privilege of attending the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce NRPF and Homelessness at Birmingham Symphony Hall. The conference promised to be an insightful day bringing partners together to consider and explore regional approaches to designing out homelessness for non-UK nationals with no recourse or restricted eligibility […]

Miss Macaroon Programme and open day

Macaroons that Make a Difference programme was developed as part of Miss Macaroon’s work as a Social Enterprise. The scheme offers support for long-term unemployed young people, aged 18-35 years old, who have certain disadvantages when it comes to gaining employment. For example, some trainees are ex-offenders. Others have had a history of mental health […]

Free School Uniforms Across the West Midlands

The increase in the cost of living is at the forefront of everyone’s minds at the moment. Sadly, there are necessities that are no longer affordable for families, and this includes school uniforms.  A survey of about 1,000 UK parents by The Children’s Society suggested those with children in state schools spent on average £337 […]