Archbishop urges support for Homelessness Sunday

The plight of homeless people is being forgotten in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Archbishop John has warned.

Attention on the virus is overshadowing the on-going crisis of homelessness, he said.

In a message for Homelessness Sunday this weekend (October 11), Archbishop John urges people to pray for homeless people and to petition on their behalf.

Homelessness Sunday is an initiative of the Christian charity, Housing Justice. It asks people to reflect upon homelessness - and the issues surrounding homelessness - in the UK.

Archbishop John, who is also Chair of Housing Justice Cymru, says, “Covid-19 has brought great suffering to very many lives. One of the problems is that something like this can sometimes overshadow or help us to forget that there are other on-going crises in the lives of many people and homelessness is such a crisis.”

He adds, "Having a home is far more than having a roof over one's head. Having a home means having a degree of security, having a degree of knowing what life holds for us into the future. It is so easy to take a home for granted.

"So on Homelessness Sunday please try to focus your prayers and please try to commit to doing what you can to draw the attention of others who have the capacity to do something about the real plight of those who are homeless - their anxiety and insecurity and the danger which they face day by day."

Housing Justice Cymru is one of the charities supported by the Church in Wales’ Centenary Fund. Money raised is going to its Night Shelters project. For more information, please see:

https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/about-us/our-campaigns/centenary/centenary-appeal/

For more information on Homelessness Sunday, please see:

https://housingjustice.org.uk/homeless-sunday-2020

You can watch the Archbishop’s full message below: