Articles:Why I agreed to be Chairman of EveryonesHome
From EveryonesHome.org.uk
Fortune is a funny thing, and a deeply confusing master. I never truly understood homelessness, or how it could even be possible in the 21st century with our prosperity, advances in communication and more transparently-analysed public services. It just didn't make sense, and still doesn't. It is the ultimate fear of so many, and the most terrible trap that is a closer step than any of us imagine. The stereotypes, the economics and the non-solutions that pervade the issue itself are just the start of the red tape that prevent us from classing it as an anathema in our allegedly modern times.
My journey to EveryonesHome had auspicious beginning in meeting John Cairns one sunny afternoon in Soho. Here was a guy who had been homeless himself, but despite all his sufferings and conventional background, he had a vision. A vision to save himself, and others - to save others, and lift himself out of the hole in the process. Someone who wanted to reach higher and for the greater good, but hadn't entirely worked out how to realise it. What i saw was the same motivations in my own heart; but i was more fortunate in the resources, mentors and experience i had gained. Life had somehow smiled on me in a way that it hadn't at John. What he needed was someone to help light up the path and master the simpler disciplines that would enable him to make it happen.
I resolved that day to stand beside him on his path and put everything at my disposal at his, simply as it's what i would want someone to do for me, and those i care about. I am often described as a "map" and i believe that if we are in position to help someone, we must. I owe my self-belief to the late Clare Hartley, who silently illustrated to me Christian and humanitarian values by believing in me when no-one else did, and setting the whole community i lived in the most incredible example in humility by taking in the homeless and destitute to her own home for no reward or incentive other than fulfilling her inner conviction(s) of compassion, principle and grace.
The greatest battles in achieving dreams are not in the material - we can find the people, the resources and the money in many places if we look closely enough and work hard enough. The war lies in the will and determination to see it all through in the darkest moments, and victory can only come when we have the encouragement and support that empowers us to overcome the internal obstacles as well as the world's barriers.
What i want to see realised in EveryonesHome is a new generation of answers to the seemingly perpetual questions of homelessness. I want us to see the issue in a new light, with new information and a new approach. Everyone needs and deserves a home; a place of peace, security and refuge for when the world does its very best to batter us, and that poor master, fortune, isn't anywhere to be seen. The answer is as simple as we choose to make it - be it the immediate need for temporary housing, the more permanent treatment of medical problems or the long-term solution of educational nurturing.
The people we want to count back into the fight could be one of your family, or one of your friends. It could even be you in a few years even though you don't think it could ever be the case. No-one wanted to find themselves caught in the endless loop of the street, and most have given up on expecting a hand to reach down to help them out of the hole. EveryonesHome will be there for you if you fall; we will be there for your family, and we will be there for those you love.
John has a vision. And that vision will be realised. It may take strange turns and suffer setbacks, but EveryonesHome will be a beacon. We will take no prisoners, accept no BS, and we won't be asking permission or getting stuck in the muddy swamp of public service politics. If that threatens sensitivities or the established order, so be it.
EveryonesHome is more than a directory, a shelter, a program or a campaign. It is an idea that was born in the ravaging fires of despair, audaciously and unceremoniously claiming that although there may not be a panacea, there is a way to start to punch through the fog by creating a different kind of shelter with a different model and a different formula.
If you believe as passionately as i do that to change the life of just one is reason enough, i urge you to bring what you have, what you know, who you know and where you want to go and stand with us as we walk in against all the odds. EveryonesHome is more than any of its part of even the sum of them - it is an ideology, and a mindset.
Alexander Cameron, Chairman
