No. 5 August 2009. Newsletter Welcome HomeLess
Action means everything 
Here we come
Yesterday the team behind Welcome HomeLess received a letter from the Secretary-General of the European Parliament, Klaus Welle. He was happy to inform us that he would give us permission to hold the Welcome HomeLess exhibition on the premises of the European Parliament in January 2010.
The letter from the Secretary-General was a response to the letter of application we send him in April, and it is a great relief and very exciting that our request has been met.
Klaus Welle believes the Welcome HomeLess exhibition to be a great idea. In his letter he writes:
“I have noticed that your project has a vast and cross-party support, and therefore I would be pleased to give you permission to organize this event”.
Just a few more things to do
According to the rules of the European Parliament when using the premises as an outside body, we have to be officially invited by a Danish Member of Parliament. Luckily, in the spring we had contact with several of the Danish MEPs, but one of them was particularly interested in Welcome HomeLess. We have asked Britta Thomsen if she would invite the 13 bronze homeless to Brussels.
Britta Thomsen is also one of the re-elected Danish MEPs, who supports Welcome HomeLess and has signed the support declaration. Read it here..
When the summer break is done in the European Parliament, we will make sure that the last of the pieces will fall into place regarding the invitation, so that the Welcome HomeLess Touring Exhibition can be on its way to Brussels.
We will of course keep you up-dated, so make sure to visit the Welcome Homeless website once in a while to check up on the latest news.
Homelessness and poverty
What conditions in a person’s life lead to homelessness? Most of us can agree that it is not possible to pin point the exact conditions. But how big a part does poverty play?
FEANTSA’s European Observatory on Homelessness is organizing a Research Conference on the theme of Homelessness and Poverty in Europe, which will take place in Paris, September 18th 2009.
During the EU summit in Lisbon in 2000 the European Head of states agreed that in the following 10 years a strategy for combating poverty and social exclusion had to be put into practice. Homelessness was also included in this strategy. From a political point of view homelessness was seen as a circumstance, which is connected to poverty and social exclusion.
But how far along are we in Denmark, when it comes to implementing a strategy concerning homelessness? Only in recent time has a national plan concerning the effort towards homelessness been passed, and we are still waiting for the carrying out of this plan – even though the money has been allocated for it.
It is necessary to place homelessness and poverty into focus – also in the civil societies through out Europe, and both the FEANTSA Conference and Welcome HomeLess are great ways of getting the message and knowledge concerning homelessness, poverty and social exclusion across.
The initiative is one thing
However, it is one thing to take the first few steps to initiate a national political plan that is to reduce the number of homeless people, another thing is to prevent homelessness. In order to prevent homelessness it is crucial to know the conditions, which lead to homelessness and place the effort there.
This is why the question as to what extent homelessness and poverty are related and in what way is important. One thing is whether the politicians believe it to be related or not, what really matters are the knowledge and documentation which show a potential correlation.
It is however a fact that the correlation turns up in scientific work again and again, both in relation to the conditions for ending up being homeless and the barriers that poverty places when is comes to getting out of homelessness.
When measuring the extent of poverty through the method used in most EU Member states – that is the part of the population whose income is below 50 per cent of the median income – it is possible to se in Denmark a gradually increasing poverty. In addition to this more and more evictions are taking place because people cannot afford to pay their rent.
So I believe that it is necessary to pay attention to the correlation between homelessness and poverty, and to create as much awareness and information regarding the matter as possible. As one of many I am looking forward to hear much more of the new knowledge and scientific work, which will be presented at the FEANTSA Conference, and to see the 13 bronze sculptures exhibited around Europe in 2010, where they will play a part in informing the European citizens of homelessness and poverty across borders.
Preben Brandt,
Chairman of the Board in projekt UDENFOR.
It all makes a difference
Something is up in Odense, Denmark. Something different and new is going to change the lives of many, many socially marginalized people across the world. August 17th 2009 the Social Inclusion Games begin, and that will not happen quietly.
The Social Inclusion Games 2009 is the biggest sporting event for socially marginalized people to be held in Denmark – or maybe in the entire world. The organizers expect more than 1000 athletes to participate in the many disciplines that are to be carried out from August 17th till August 23rd.
The huge sporting event is a part of a long-term national effort to motivate socially marginalized people to take part in sports. The partners behind the Games are; the National Association of Activity Centers (LVS), ?the Danish Sports Organization for Socially Marginalized People (IDVI), the Municipality of Odense and the Ministry of Interior and Social Affairs.
They all believe that by establishing the framework for great experiences and by creating a new fellowship around sports, it will be possible to stimulate more socially marginalized people to do something good for themselves. The organizers emphasize that what they put forward can be measured with the offers to be found in the well-established sports world. The Social Inclusion Games can fully meet the participants’ requirements and expectations to both the competitive and the social sides of sports.
A place for everyone
The athletes participating in the Games are from all the clubs under the Danish Sports Organization for Socially Marginalized People (IDVI), and members from clubs in Slovenia, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Georgia and many more countries.
Common for all of them is that they all make use of activity centres for marginalized people, sheltered accommodation, care- and treatment institutions or other services for the socially marginalized people. The athletes can be alcoholics or former alcoholics, drug abusers, mentally ill, homeless or people who in one way or another are socially marginalized.
The large support and enthusiasm towards a different and distinctive event like the Social Inclusion Games show us that there is a need for and an interest in these kinds of events. Hopefully the Welcome HomeLess exhibition will be able to gather as many interested and committed people in the fight against homelessness and poverty.
It is free for the participants to be a part of the Social Inclusion Games 2009, because the Ministry of Interior and Social Affairs has contributed with economic support.
Read more about the Social Inclusion Games at the event’s website.
Short News:
Welcome HomeLess on Facebook
It is now possible to join the group 'Welcome HomeLess' on Facebook. So if you are a part of the Facebook community, please click here and join the group.
You will of course find all the important information about Welcome HomeLess on the website, but the profile on Facebook will keep you up-dated on events and all new photos will also be posted here.
Facebook is a great way of spreading the word about the Welcome HomeLess Pan-European Touring Exhibition, and we hope that you will help us create a lot of attention and expand our network even further.
We look forward to 'see' all of you on Facebook.
Best Regards, 
The team behind Welcome HomeLess.
You are always more that welcome to contact us at: welcome@udenfor.dk