Getting 100 or so people into a church hall in Edinburgh in August might not sound like the most remarkable thing, but our Building Hope rally was every bit as engaging and energising as the thousands of other shows taking over the capital this month.
This rally marks a key moment in our project, funded by the Robertson Trust and in partnership with Fife Gingerbread, aimed at tackling child homelessness in Scotland and reducing the number of families trapped for years on end in temporary homes that can damage the safety, health and education of the children in those households.
We have already published our Kick-Off Report, outlining the gap between commitments made by national and local government, and the reality being experienced every day by far too many families across Scotland. Bringing to light this reality, and giving those experiencing it the opportunity to raise their voices and demand action, is a key part of this project and it is why we brought people together at Ps and Gs Church in central Edinburgh.
We had representation from across the sector – children’s charities, rights organisations, housing and homelessness groups, community groups – and central to the day was hearing from those with lived experience of the broken housing system. People in our communities who have had no other choice but to live in limbo in temporary homes for years on end. We were delighted to have such a strong representation from people who have lived in or are still living in temporary accommodation – an incredible 27 participants coming with this experience, making up over one third of our external attendees.
We began the day by centring that lived experience – showcasing an animation created by Shelter Scotland and One Parent Families Scotland around experiences in temporary accommodation, hearing directly from those trapped in this situation, and also hearing the reflections of Dr Pinar Aksu, who kindly shared her experiences of campaigning in a time of hopelessness. The energy in the room was clear – and evidenced by people’s contributions to our word cloud. People are angry, they are frustrated, they are sad and emotional, but people are also hopeful, motivated and inspired to take action. This sense of action and inspiration stayed with us throughout the day.
The enthusiasm remained every step of the way, from wanting to continue important conversations throughout the lunch break, to hearing great ideas of what action we can all take to help show politicians that they need to act. Listening to Talat Yaqoob explore how to make change (and importantly, when the right thing to do is to say No to a politician seeking to use your work and your organisation for their own photo opportunity), gave us all a renewed sense of purpose for the discussions that followed.
This may be a project led by Shelter Scotland and Fife Gingerbread, but we need everyone together to fight the housing emergency. We know if we want to make change, to make things better after years of things getting worse, we can come together and build hope and drive the change needed so families can access safe, secure homes they need to thrive. We are telling politicians that enough is enough. We won’t accept this any longer.
With the government now committed to “ending the use of unsafe and harmful temporary accommodation for children”, it is up to us to make sure they make good on that promise.
That is the challenge, and it is one we are prepared to fight head on. If we don’t do this together, nobody else will do it for us. So let’s build hope, build change, and build a better future.