*** PLEASE NOTE - Conference organisers Bill Edgar and Prof Joe Doherty and speakers including Mr Mangano will be available at the above time to discuss the event.

The latest strategies to combat homelessness and social exclusion across Europe will be discussed at a major conference being held in Dundee this week.

Around 120 delegates from all over Europe will attend the European Observatory on Homelessness conference at the Queen’s Hotel, in Dundee on Thursday March 23rd, where they will hear presentations from senior representatives from the USA, Germany, France, Denmark and Hungary, as well as the UK and Ireland.

Key speakers at the conference will include Malcolm Chisholm MSP, Minister for Communities, who is speaking on Scottish homelessness legislation, and Phillip Mangano, of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, who will explain the latest US policies on tackling homelessness, including the "Settlement First" programme.

The event is being hosted by the Joint Centre for Scottish Housing Research (JCSHR), a collaborative venture between the University of Dundee and the University of St Andrews.

"We are delighted that we have been able to welcome such notable speakers to the event, including Mr Chisholm and Mr Mangano," said Bill Edgar, honorary research fellow in the School of Town Planning at the University of Dundee and co-founder of JCSHR with Professor Joe Doherty at the University of St Andrews.

"Homelessness and social exclusion are major issues facing countries right across Europe and indeed around the world."

"In many ways Scotland is leading the way in this area with the "Right To Housing" legislation, which states that by 2012 local authorities must be able to offer homeless people permanent accommodation within a defined time period."

"We have also established some of the leading research in this area, so it is quite fitting that we are hosting this conference in Dundee."

The conference, titled "Intervention Strategies on Social Exclusion and Homelessness in Europe", is funded by FEANTSA, the European federation of national organisations working with the homeless.

The conference aims to be the starting point of a genuine trans-national co-operation on the issue of homelessness. It is designed for all people who are involved in developing, implementing and monitoring policy solutions and will provide an excellent opportunity to develop trans-national relations to help shape policy and practice.

A press release from FEANTSA and the full conference programme, including details of all speakers and their subjects, are attached.

NOTES TO EDITORS

FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless, was established in 1989 as a European non-governmental organisation (in French, FEANTSA stands for la Fédération Européenne d'Associations Nationales Travaillant avec les Sans-Abri).

The more than 90 member organisations of FEANTSA come from 29 European countries, including all 25 Member States of the European Union. Members are non-governmental organisations that provide a wide range of services to homeless people including accommodation and social support. Most of the members of FEANTSA are national or regional umbrella organisations of service providers. They often work in close co-operation with public authorities, social housing providers and other relevant actors.

FEANTSA is the only major European network that focuses exclusively on homelessness at European level. FEANTSA receives financial support from the European Commission for the implementation of its activities. FEANTSA works closely with the EU institutions, and has consultative status at the Council of Europe and at the United Nations.

http://www.feantsa.org/code/en/hp.asp

For more information contact:

Roddy Isles
Head of Press
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk