About

Homes for Cathy is a national group of housing associations and charities working together to end homelessness.

Formed in 2016, the group has grown to 120 members, which together own and manage over 1.5 million homes. Homes for Cathy members sign up to seven homelessness commitments, developed with the homelessness charity Crisis, which guide and benchmark best practice within their organisations.

Members meet for workshops and an annual conference to share knowledge around meeting the commitments, tackling a range of subjects including reducing evictions, maintaining flexible allocations and eligibility policies, offering furnished tenancies to people experiencing homelessness and working in partnership to deliver initiatives such as Housing First.

Homes for Cathy also facilitates regional events, hosted by members, to galvanise action at local level, uniting stakeholders from housing associations, local government and charities to address local challenges and solutions to ending homelessness.

Alongside events, knowledge is shared through the Homes for Cathy online news hub and quarterly newsletters.

As part of its lobbying activity, Homes for Cathy has recently pushed for homeless people to be recognised as housing association consumers/stakeholders by the Regulator of Social Housing. Homes for Cathy is also a backer of Inside Housing’s Build Social Campaign and was one of more than 30 signatories of the National Housing Federation’s open letter to the next Prime Minister, calling for a long-term plan for housing to end the housing crisis.

The Homes for Cathy group is administered by Hightown Housing Association. We are a registered limited company.