Join Iain Macfarlane, CEO of Blue Triangle, Richard Carter, Associate Vicar at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London and Tricia Imrie, Chief Executive of Impact Funding Partners as they unpack the issue of homelessness.
Living in safe, secure and affordable housing is beyond the reach of hundreds of thousands people in the UK, thanks to rising rents, pay freezes and a lack of quality affordable homes. The problems go back decades and are complex, with the young and key workers in many cities priced out of safe housing, and everything exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. Should we build houses differently and build more affordable housing? Or change tenancy and loan schemes? Or change the tax benefits to home buyers and legislate to disincentivise property speculation? Or nationalise housing?
Join this conversation with Richard Carter, Associate Vicar at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London; Tricia Imrie of Impact Funding Partners and Iain Macfarlane, CEO of Blue Triangle.
Tricia Imrie is Chief Executive of Impact Funding Partners, a national fund management charity and consultancy, and has held leadership roles in Scottish and UK national charities for 13 years. She has dedicated her career to helping shape a better society; working with leading public, private and third sector organisations, local and national government, and crucially, communities to co-design whole system solutions which power social and economic renewal. She is a Clore Social Leadership Fellow, strategic advisor to local and national government departments, Chair of the Scottish Government’s Lifelong Engagement in Volunteering Working Group and Trustee of Say Women.
Revd Richard Carter is Associate Vicar for Mission. He was ordained in 1992 and has been a full-time priest at St Martin’s since 2006. He has special responsibility for the the work with the destitute and asylum seekers; the education programme, international links and hospitality of the church. He links up with the Connection at St Martin’s for services, events and leading the Spirituality Group.
Before coming to St Martin’s Richard was Chaplain to the Melanesian Brotherhood in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.
Iain Macfarlane is the CEO of Blue Triangle a homelessness organisation who support over 400 people every day, in 35 services, across 9 local authorities in Scotland. They operate at the intersection of social care and social justice and support people at the higher and highest end of need, both young people and adults. Over 90% of the people they support have experienced trauma in childhood or as an adult, over 80% have lived or living experience of addiction, over 70% have a history of repeat homelessness, and over 60% have a history of repeat offending. They see the person, and nurture their potential, focusing on their Mission to Empower People to Thrive.
An economist, chartered banker, and Partner in some of the large professional services firms, Iain returned to his roots when commencing in post with Blue Triangle in Q4 2020. He brings his own lived experience and his heart to the role in addition to his corporate experience of driving collaborative whole system change across the UK and beyond. He is passionate about bringing hope, positive connections, and lasting relationships to the lives of those who need it most, allowing them to step into a new future, as no one’s past should define who they are today.
