Strategic Alliance between St Mungo’s and Crisis

15 March 2010

Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people and St Mungo's, London's leading homelessness organisation, today announced that they have agreed to form a Strategic Alliance to harness and channel the strengths of each other, and work together on a number of specific initiatives towards the goal of ending homelessness.

Over the last two years the two organisations have increasingly worked together in a number of areas. This Alliance signifies their intention to continue this work together and look for more opportunities to do so. Particular things Crisis and St Mungo's will work together on will include:

  • Pressing the Mayor of London, the current and any future Government to deliver on the commitments to end rough sleeping by 2012;
  • Co-ordinating our efforts to provide emergency accommodation during severe weather in London;
  • Making the case for maintained and increased funding for specialist homeless services, particularly in the areas of health, education and employment;
  • Building links between the services of each organisation to support clients and increase the range of opportunities for members of the public to volunteer and get involved.

Both Crisis and St Mungo's consider that the interests of rough sleepers and homeless people can be best served when organisations join forces on specific issues. There is a natural synergy between St Mungo's, as London's largest homelessness agency, and Crisis, as the leading campaigning organisation for single homeless people in Britain. Both organisations have over the years developed innovative services for homeless people and will continue to do so individually and through working together.

Crisis' CEO Leslie Morphy said: "Crisis and St Mungo's have increasingly worked together in recent years on projects of mutual interest. This Alliance is a logical next step and signifies clearly our intention to work together where we can, bringing our respective strengths to bear. This will enable both organisations to do more for more homeless people through the services we provide and to have even greater impact on public policy - particularly important as we face a general election and an uncertain climate of public spending."

St Mungo's CEO Charles Fraser said: "This Strategic Alliance is an innovative example of homelessness organisations working together in order to increase their effectiveness. Both Crisis and St Mungo's are financially strong and confident in their separate futures but believe this kind of working partnership will result in even better services for homeless people. We can each learn from each other, and the yardstick will be improving services for homeless people. We share fundamental values with Crisis, and look forward to working with them closely and strongly in the future."

Notes to editors:

Crisis is the national charity for single homeless people. We are dedicated to ending homelessness by delivering life-changing services and campaigning for change. Our innovative education, employment, housing and well-being services address individual needs and help people to transform their lives. We measure our success and can demonstrate tangible results and value for money.

We are determined campaigners, working to prevent people from becoming homeless and advocating solutions informed by research and our direct experience. We have ambitious plans for the future and are committed to help more people in more places across the UK. We know we won't end homelessness overnight or on our own. But we take a lead, collaborate with others and, together, make change happen.

St Mungo's is London's largest homelessness organisation, and has recently started to work outside London too. We have nearly 100 housing projects, from shelters through to independent flats, and these are complemented by a unique range of support services.

These cover prevention (housing advice for prisoners; high support housing); emergency response (outreach, shelters, and hostels); and recovery (health, resettlement and employment and training). Every year we enable thousands of homeless and vulnerable people to change their lives for good.

The two organisations have agreed to form a Strategic Alliance in order to harness and channel the strengths of each other. This is not a prelude to a merger - each of Crisis and St Mungo's will remain entirely separate organisations and will continue to deliver services and raise money separately. This is also not an exclusive arrangement, and is not intended to restrict either organisation's ability to work with others.

Back to latest press releases

Related content