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Liz LynneLiberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands 1999-2012 |
EURO-MP STEPS UP HOMELESSNESS CAMPAIGN
February 20, 2008 9:00 AM
A campaign to end street homelessness across the EU stepped up a gear when a striking exhibition on the subject was launched by European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering at the European Parliament last night. Local Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Liz Lynne, who was part of the launch, was praised by the President for her recent report on poverty and social exclusion and her work on social policy.
The exhibition is intended to highlight to MEPs the harsh realities of living on the streets in modern-day Europe and gather their support for a Written Declaration, which if signed by enough Members within the next month, will be followed by a formal Parliamentary debate on the subject. The campaigners are calling for closer EU cooperation by sharing data and best practice to end sleeping rough across the 27-nation bloc by 2015.
Speaking after the event, Liz, who is also Vice President of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee, said:
"I am delighted that this campaign has attracted the support of so many of my colleagues as it is vital that we get the opportunity to debate this subject in the European Parliament as soon as possible.
"So many of the factors behind street homelessness are common to all EU countries so we should be learning from each other by exchanging ideas and experience on how best to deal with issues such as a lack of decent affordable accommodation or local employment.
"The sooner we have this debate the sooner we can start to build new initiatives to ensure that better services are available to help people at a local level turn their lives around and get off the streets and I would relish the opportunity to discuss how we can get moving on this."
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
Photo Caption: Liz Lynne MEP at the European Parliament's exhibition on street homelessness ( 19/2/08)
Liz Lynne MEP authored a key 2007 joint report for the European Parliament on Social Protection and Social Inclusion which, amongst other things called for increased sharing of best practice among EU Member States in the fight against poverty and social exclusion. The report was overwhelmingly adopted by the European Parliament in November 2007. Please find the report here: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A6-2007-0400+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN
While government estimates put street homelessness (sleeping rough) in England at 492 people on any given night, it is believed that the actual figure could be five to ten times this.
The Written Declaration signed by Liz Lynne (text below), if signed by over half of the 785 Members before the 26th of March 2008, will prompt a debate on the subject in the European Parliament. 235 Members have so far signed.
Written declaration on ending street homelessness - 0111/2007
The European Parliament,
A. whereas homelessness was identified as a priority by the EPSCO Council in 2005, and is a priority under the 'active inclusion' strand of the EU social protection and inclusion strategy,
B. whereas access to adequate housing is a fundamental human right and access to shelter often the first step towards adequate and sustainable housing solutions for people experiencing extreme poverty and exclusion,
C. whereas every winter people freeze to death across the EU because of lack of emergency accommodation and outreach services catering for their needs,
D. whereas street homelessness is the most visible form of homelessness, which can only be addressed effectively as part of a wider holistic strategy,
E. whereas the European Parliament called twice for urgent action to tackle homelessness this year,
1. Calls on the Council to agree on an EU-wide commitment to end street homelessness by 2015;
2. Calls on the Commission to develop a European framework definition of homelessness, gather comparable and reliable statistical data, and provide annual updates on action taken and progress made in EU Member States towards ending homelessness;
3. Urges Member States to devise 'winter emergency plans' as part of a wider homelessness strategy;
4. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Council, Commission and the Member States.
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