About Us
Our Team

Cardinal Vincent Nichols

Born in Crosby, Liverpool, on 8 November 1945, Vincent Nichols studied for the priesthood at the Venerable English College in Rome from 1963 to 1970, gaining licences in philosophy and theology at the Gregorian University. He was ordained priest in Rome on 21 December 1969 for the Archdiocese of Liverpool.

He then studied an MA degree in theology at Manchester University between 1970 and 1971. In 1971 he was appointed assistant priest in St Mary’s Parish, Wigan and chaplain to the Sixth Form College and St Peter’s High School. In 1974 he studied at Loyola University in Chicago and was awarded an M.Ed. In 1975 he was appointed to St Anne’s parish in Toxteth, Liverpool with particular responsibility for education.

In January 1980 he was appointed director of the Upholland Northern Institute, where he was responsible for the in-service training of the clergy, pastoral and religious education courses. He was also a member of Archbishop’s Council with responsibility for pastoral formation and development in the diocese.

In January 1984, he was appointed general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference in England & Wales. From 1989 to 1996 he was moderator of the Steering Committee of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland.

Mgr Vincent Nichols was appointed auxiliary bishop to Westminster, with responsibility for North London, on 24 January 1992.

In 1994 he became a member of the Finance Advisory Committee of the National Catholic Fund of the Bishops’ Conference. In 1995 he became a member of the Bishops’ Conference Committee for the Roman Colleges and in 1996 he was appointed Episcopal Liaison of the Bishops’ Conference for the National Conference of Diocesan Financial Secretaries. He has also been a member of the Joint Commission of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences and the Conference of European Churches (Protestant); vice president of the Bible Society and a member of the board of the Christian Academy for European Development at Louvain.

In 1998 Bishop Nichols was appointed chair of the Bishops’ Conference department for Catholic Education and Formation and also chair of the Catholic Education Service. He represented the European bishops at the November 1998 Synod of Bishops from Oceania and appointed by the Holy See to the Synod of Bishops for Europe in September 1999 as a special secretary.

In 2000, Bishop Nichols was appointed Archbishop of Birmingham.

In 2001 Archbishop Nichols was appointed chair of the management board of the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults.

In 2005, he provided the commentary for the worldwide BBC coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II and the Installation of Pope Benedict XVI.

In 2008 he was appointed President of the Commission for Schools, Universities and Catechesis of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE).

On 21 May 2009 he was installed as the 11th Archbishop of Westminster following the retirement of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. He was elected President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales by unanimous acclamation on 30 April 2009.

He received the Pallium in Rome from Pope Benedict XVI on 29 June 2009, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

In 2010 he received an Honorary Doctoral Degree from Birmingham University, and in 2011 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Liverpool Hope University.

In 2014, he was appointed by Pope Francis to lead the work of the Church against human trafficking and modern slavery. He is President of the Santa Marta Group, which gathers together Catholic bishops, police chiefs and government officials from over 30 countries around the world in a partnership to work towards the eradication of these twin scourges.

On 22 February 2014, he was created Cardinal Priest by Pope Francis in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He was designated the titular Church of St Alphonsus Liguori, a neo-Gothic church that is in the care of the Redemptorists. It is best known for housing the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a gift given to the Redemptorists by Pope Pius IX in 1866.

On 27 May 2015, he was installed as the first Chancellor of St Mary’s University, Twickenham.

On 8 October 2016, the Presidents of Europe’s Bishops’ Conferences, members by right of CCEE (the Council of European Episcopal Conferences), elected Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, to the role of President, and Cardinal Nichols and Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, Archbishop of Poznań and President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, to the role of Vice-Presidents of the CCEE for the five-year mandate 2016-2021.

On 23 May 2018, along with the Santa Marta Group, he received the UN Path to Peace Award for his work combatting human trafficking and modern slavery.

On 10 November 2018, the Cardinal was presented with a medal from the Republic of Poland’s Senate by Senator Anna Maria Anders at the Mass of Thanksgiving for the centenary of the Republic of Poland at Westminster Cathedral.

As Archbishop of Westminster, he is also Patron of the Bellarmine Institute.

He is patron of a number of Catholic charities including the Passage and the Cardinal Hume Centre.

Rachel Lampard

Since 2008, Rachel has been the Team Leader of the Joint Public Issues Team, an ecumenical collaboration between the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union, the United Reformed Church and the Church of Scotland, enabling the denominations to campaign and speak out on issues of poverty, climate change and peace.

At the Methodist Conference in 2015, Rachel was elected to serve as Vice President of Conference, alongside the Reverend Roger Walton during 2016 – 2017.

Rachel is no stranger to the work of Housing Justice. In the 1980’s, she served as policy and campaign lead for the Catholic Housing Aid Society, which became Housing Justice in 2003.

Rachel’s appointment, joining Cardinal Vincent Nicholas, Archbishop of Westminster, comes at the end of the Jubilee Celebrations for the Catholic Housing Aid Society.

As part of her new role of President, Ms Lampard will be visiting the Housing Office, based at the South London Mission at Bermondsey Central Hall, this morning to meet staff and volunteers of the charity.

Speaking of her new role, Rachel Lampard, newly appointed President of Housing Justice said:

“I have seen how homelessness and poor housing damages people’s lives. Churches have long been at the forefront of responding by offering help to those affected, developing innovative solutions, and campaigning for change.

I am delighted and honoured to have been appointed as a President of Housing Justice and look forward to continuing to support their work, and the work that is done by churches, of all denominations, around the country.”

Welcoming this appointment, Housing Justice Chair, the Rt Revd James Langstaff said:

“Throughout 2016, Housing Justice has been celebrating the birthday of the Catholic Housing Aid Society, which laid roots to what Housing Justice has become. We are grateful to all those who worked so hard to enable the current organisation to become what it has.

I warmly welcome Rachel’s appointment as a President of Housing Justice because she is no stranger to championing the cause of the benefit that churches can and do make in practical action to those who are homeless or in housing need.

Inviting Rachel to take up this important role will not just maintain the link to our heritage as a charity, but also be an example of our continued commitment to working ecumenically with organisations such as the Joint Public Issues Team as well as the denominations which they represent.”

Rt Rev’d Rob Wickham

Robert Wickham has been Bishop of Edmonton since September 2015.

Since his ordination as a Deacon, Rob has always served in the Diocese of London. He was a Curate in the Parish Church of Willesden, a Team Vicar in the Parish of Old St Pancras, with a particular responsibility for St Mary’s Somers Town, and then for nine years as Rector of St John at Hackney, latterly becoming Area Dean of Hackney.

Since ordination Rob has completed an MA in Theology, Politics and Faith Based organisations from Kings College.

Indeed, whilst Rector of Hackney, the Church of St John at Hackney was reordered so that most aspects of Hackney life could be experienced, from concerts by Coldplay, Gary Barlow and Emilie Sande, jobs fairs, credit unions, to the most used knife amnesty bin in London.

The reordering led to a reordering of its relationship with the local community, which became so needed in the aftermath of the disturbances in 2011.

Aidan Dwan

Aidan qualified as a solicitor and worked as a lawyer in the oil and gas industry. After various operational roles he spent the largest part of his career as UK Human Resources Director in a an international oil company. During a brief career change Aidan qualified and spent three years as a primary school teacher before returning to human resource management.

Aidan has been involved in various homeless projects including as a literacy volunteer and a volunteer migrant host.

He joined the board in October 2018.

Chrishanti Joanna Shah

Having been Broadway Homelessness & Support’s Management Accountant since January 2008, as well as a member of their Strategic Management Team, Chrishanti has directly seen and worked through the economic impact that the government’s legislative changes and priorities have had on the charity and in particular homelessness sector. Chrishanti now serves as the Director of Finance and Resources for Croydon Churches Housing Association.

As a qualified Management Accountant, she hopes to bring her broad strategic financial planning and performance management knowledge to the Housing Justice Board of Trustees as well as her nearly 10 years’ experience in the Charity sector.  Chrishanti has helped to develop successful tender’s for contracts and grants with the Greater London Authority, Commissioning bodies in London and Oxford Local Authorities, and the City of London including working with various Trust’s and Housing Associations.

She grew up in the Anglican Church and has been an active member of her Parochial Church Council for 10 years. She is currently Deputy Warden and Secretary, directly influencing how her local community gives back to society.  Chrishanti has previously produced youth performances to raise money for Charities, while encouraging and nurturing the future of our nation.   As a mother of a toddler, is now keener to help grow opportunities for young people in today’s world.

The Most Rev’d John Davies

Bishop John was born in Newport (Mon), studied law at university and, after serving articles, was admitted as a solicitor in 1977. He left the law to enter the ministry and was ordained in 1984.

He served in the Diocese of Monmouth in a variety of rural, post-industrial and urban parishes. He was appointed Dean of Brecon, in the Diocese of Swansea & Brecon, in 2000, and during eight years in that role, oversaw significant improvements to the fabric and liturgy of the Cathedral.

He was elected as the ninth Bishop of Swansea and Brecon in 2008 and as Archbishop of Wales in 2017. He retired in 2021.

Having been the Church in Wales’s ‘lead Bishop’ for Church and Society issues, Bishop John is profoundly interested in matters of social justice and has spoken out on a range of issues, including homelessness and housing, organ donation, assisted dying and poverty. From his days in the law, where he specialised in criminal law, he retains a keen interest in issues of crime and punishment, with a particular concern about the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders, the nature of criminality and the effects of poor social and educational standards.

Having served as the Chair of Trustees for a large hospice in Newport, he also has a deep concern for the just provision of healthcare, not least for those in the final stages of life. He is a former Chair of the Ethical Investment Group of the Church in Wales, its Global Issues Group and the Wales National Committee of Christian Aid. He is currently a trustee of a number of charities.

Bishop John enjoys a wide variety of music, watching sport – especially cricket and rugby – playing golf very occasionally, cooking and walking. He is married to Jo who, having worked for a number of years as an intensive care nurse and in the organ transplant service of NHSBT, now works as an emergency nurse practitioner. They have two grown-up children both of whom currently live and work in London.

Richard Drake

Richard is a champion of homelessness charities and initiatives, particularly near his home in Bristol.

As a management accountant by profession Richard has both worked for and been treasurer of several Bristol charities since leaving industry in 2001. 

He has been actively engaged with conflict resolution and has provided short training courses to shelters on dealing with Challenging Behaviour. 

Richard is a member of Bristol Area Quaker Meeting and is a trustee at Quaker Social Action. He joined the board in October 2018.

Olawunmi Odunaiya

Olawunmi is an accomplished business owner with an impressive track record in running and managing small businesses. She works in property development and management and brings with her ample experience in the Private Rented Sector.

She is an active member of her local community and is involved in the mentoring of young ladies, providing shopping services to the elderly and is an active member of the Royal Voluntary Services.

Jane Fowler

Jane is a Chartered Accountant with experience in risk and compliance as well as resolving ethical issues. Jane has also worked in an advisory capacity with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, and the Financial Reporting Council on their Technical Advisory Group.

Jane has recently retired from accountancy to follow her dream of writing a book. She lives in London with her husband, daughter and dog Rosie.

Sarah Howard-Jones

Sarah is a former government lawyer, with experience across central government departments over 18 years, working alongside policy development, spending and operational teams in public policy areas. Until 2019, she was legal advisor for housing policy at the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government, focusing particularly on homelessness reduction, regulation of social housing, and standards in the private rented sector.

She is training for ordained ministry at Ripon College, Cuddesdon while on placement at St James’s Piccadilly, with a view to a curacy post in London from 2021.

Sarah lives in London, owned by two children and a cat.

Julie Cook

Julie has worked in housing & homelessness for over 30 years after graduating with a Housing Degree from Sheffield Hallam University back in the 1980’s. She started out as a front line Homelessness Officer and progressed her career working in six different councils in a variety of roles before joining Elmbridge where she was Head of Housing & Benefits from 2005 to 2018. Julie was a strong advocate for homeless people and benefit recipients within the Council and was responsible for many service improvements including the introduction of a winter night shelter and a strong local partnership to minimise the negative impact of welfare reform including Universal Credit. Julie was also Chair of Surrey Chief Housing Officers Association for three years.

Since 2018 Julie has enjoyed part time work in the charitable sector, initially with a Christian Homelessness Charity, Oasis Community Housing, where she successfully developed their Major Donor Fundraising Programme and most recently with Homeless Link where she is a Project Manager. At Homeless Link Julie has helped deliver a range of services and projects – including the Pan London Umbrella Support Project, an England wide Digital Inclusion and Homelessness Project and producing guidance for charities on working strategically with LA’s on Homelessness.

Julie lives in Surrey with her husband, son, two beloved dogs and their campervan. She is a member of her local Anglican church and is also Trustee of the UK wide Charity, Street Support Network. She said “I am delighted to be joining the Board of Housing Justice. I’m still passionate about tackling homelessness and the need for collaboration and partnership amongst all stakeholder including the faith sector”.

Glynys Sykes

Glynys has nearly 30 years’ experience as a fundraising and communications manager, working in international aid, child development and Bible engagement. She has also worked in publishing, PR and marketing communications.

She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, past Secretary of Fundraisers in Christian Organisations, and a graduate of Jesus College, Oxford.

She is thrilled to have joined the Trustee Board of Housing Justice, and to chair the Fundraising and Comms Sub Committee.

Suzanne Davis

Suzanne is an experienced philanthropy fundraiser having spent the early part of her career in International and European Marketing for American Express. During a career break to raise her family, she became involved in local homelessness projects, supporting the work of the Easter Team and Open House in Crawley, West Sussex. When she returned to work, she moved into the charity sector, working with philanthropic individuals and organisations supporting their local hospice. She now works as Head of Philanthropy at an international children’s charity, providing future-oriented education to disadvantaged children in the Global South.

With a qualification from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, Suzanne is keen to use her experience to continue to support the work of the homelessness sector on a national level.

She lives in Sussex with her husband, and twin boys who recently graduated from University.

Sharon McLoughlin

Sharon is an experienced Housing Professional of almost 30 years in the Social Housing Sector, having first began her career with the Local Authority at Wigan Council then West Lancashire County Council where she specialised in Homelessness before moving onto roles at Irwell Valley Housing, Bolton Council, Community Gateway Housing, before becoming Group Community Safety Lead at Your Housing Group where she went on to design a Harm centred approach to dealing with Anti social Behaviour. 

She now works part time as Head of Professional Practice at RESOLVE ASB a national membership organisation and works as an Associate at Homeless Link a national membership charity for organisations working directly with people who become homeless in England & Clouds End CIC a specialist support for people who live in a Hoarded Home. 

Sharon has long been an advocate of preventing homelessness, in particular supporting people to sustain their homes whilst living with a mental health disorder; she is currently leading Clouds End CIC’s campaign for Supportive Intervention not Eviction for people living with Hoarding Disorder.

Living in the North West with her partner, two daughters, two rescue dogs & two rescue cats!

Bonnie Williams

Before starting as Director of Housing Justice Cymru, Bonnie worked as part of the Future Generation’s Commissioners team, leading on housing, adverse childhood experiences and organisational development.
Prior to this role, Bonnie was the Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales; responsible for ensuring effective delivery of the policing priorities.

Her portfolio included a number of performance and policy areas including: violence reduction, anti-social behaviour, licencing, hate crime, IT, demand and the interface between policing and housing.

During this role Bonnie also undertook a part time secondment to Welsh Government, where she advised on issues of housing related anti-social behaviour.

Bonnie started her career co-ordinating local authority services for adults with profound and multiple disabilities and in 2008 started working for South Wales Police as an Anti-social Behaviour Co-ordinator with Merthyr Tydfil Community Safety Partnership. Bonnie spent six years in this role, during which time she took on the role of Chair for the All Wales Anti-social Behaviour Group and also started working with the Welsh Government on their Anti-social Behaviour Strategy.

In her spare time Bonnie has her hands full with her two children and her very energetic dog.

Contact Bonnie

Jacob Dimitriou

Prior to joining Housing Justice Jacob Dimitriou led on External Affairs for Commonweal Housing, working on projects such as housing for those with no recourse to public funds and move on housing for women exiting prostitution. Previously, Jacob worked for the Labour Party in the lead up to the 2015 General Election and in the private sector in marketing and communications. He was also a Councillor in local government between 2011-2015, chairing a planning committee in one of the busiest planning authorities in the country and specialising in housing.

Jacob is married to Suzy and they have a young son. Jacob is a practicing Roman Catholic.

Contact Jacob

Martin Parkes

Martin joins Housing Justice in a new role as Quality Manager. Previously he has worked with a range of faith and charitable organisations across international development; the Methodist Church, supporting rural communities in Devon; and public library services.

Martin has worked on neighbourhood plans and community housing schemes, and has been a host for young people who find themselves homeless through Nightstop.

Martin lives in Devon with his wife and two children. He enjoys being outdoors, exploring Dartmoor and the local coastline, or playing cricket in the summer months.

Contact Martin

Joanna Whitney

Joanna has been working in Marketing and Communications for more than 20 years across a range of sectors including education, regeneration, and sport. Her highlights include working for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games and Manchester United Football Club – although her son wasn’t very happy as he is an avid Liverpool supporter!

She has volunteered in a marketing capacity for a charity called Books2All, which is launching an app to put book donors in touch with schools that don’t have libraries, and is the Marketing Trustee for Think Malawi, a London-based charity aiming to keep girls in education in Malawi. Her experience volunteering with these two charities showed her the big impact that small grassroots organisations can have, and led her to re-think her day job. She is delighted to have been able to make the move to Housing Justice as our Marketing and Communications Manager, and is very much looking forward to using her experience to support our work.

Contact Jo

Keira McNulty

Keira is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Housing Justice. Her background is in International Relations, having earned her Master’s degree in this field. Her career has been driven by a deep commitment to supporting people seeking asylum to rebuild their lives in the UK. Keira has always been passionate about communications, recognising the power of raising awareness about social and political issues to effect meaningful change.

To further hone her skills, Keira completed a digital marketing course at University College Dublin, where she achieved a distinction. Her proficiency with tools like Canva allows her to create compelling resources for Housing Justice, helping to raise awareness about projects that assist people facing homelessness.

Keira is dedicated to making a positive impact by shifting perspectives through storytelling and communication. She is passionate about helping people and believes in the transformative power of sharing stories to foster understanding and inspire action.

Contact Keira

Jenna Roberts

Jenna Roberts is the manager of the Hosting Project in London, having previously joined the London Catalyst Team in August 2019, and having worked prior to that for 3 years as Shelter Coordinator at C4WS Homeless Project, Camden. As part of this role, she also managed a popular drop-in lunch club at Kings Cross Methodist Church, helping to create an ethos of warm hospitality, laughter and friendly support without judgement.

Jenna has a strong belief in the power of grassroots organisations to transform people’s lives. She has previously volunteered for The Simon Community, CARIS Islington, Crisis, Central London Rough Sleeping Committee (CLRSC), and worked for a short time at St Mungo’s. Jenna brings passion, enthusiasm and a little bit of Welsh charm to Housing Justice.

Contact Jenna

Ella Gosling

Ella came to Housing Justice in July 2021 after a career change from the film and television sector. During the first lockdown she undertook a Law Degree which inspired her to get involved in work surrounding human rights, immigration and supporting the most vulnerable in society. As a volunteer for Action for Children, she helps young children in care and has become passionate about helping those in need and giving something back to society.

Having had extensive experience assisting professionals in the creative world, Ella wanted to transfer these skills into the charity sector and initially assisted Kathy in the overall running of Housing Justice, and has now moved over to work on the London Hosting Team. She’s very excited about the opportunities this role will offer and how much she’ll learn from working within such a brilliant team.

Contact Ella

Sally Rowland

Sally came to Housing Justice from Single Homeless Project where she worked on different projects with vulnerable people in the Borough of Lambeth for three years.

This involved working with high needs young people leaving care and supporting them to sustain their first independent tenancies; setting up and delivering a housing project for unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, supporting them to get their status in the UK and move on successfully; and helping refugees to re-build their lives by supporting them holistically with health, wellbeing, social inclusion etc.

Sally is a keen seamstress and in her spare time she runs a small upcycled clothing business.

Contact Sally

Joe Rinvolucri

Joe is a graduate from the University of Leeds with a background in teaching. He has taught in England, Spain and Guatemala, and recently transitioned into working in the third sector. Before joining Housing Justice, Joe worked as a Senior Placement Co-ordinator for Refugees at Home.

Contact Joe

Mark Brennan

Mark leads a team of 4 Catalyst Workers in London supporting and resourcing the WNS Network as part of our Equipping Shelters Project in partnership with the Greater London Authority. His background is in the marketing, sales and distribution of the Canadian newspaper business and made his segue into the homelessness sector in the UK after spending a year at The Big Issue as their Sales & Distribution Manager for London and the South East in 2005/6.

Mark was born and grew up in Islington, North London and Chaired the Islington Outreach Forum for all agencies engaged with street population activity in the borough, statutory and voluntary, for a number of years before joining Housing Justice. Mark has extensive experience in the local, grassroots church and community response to conspicuous rough sleeping and homelessness, across our capital in particular, over the last 15+ years.

Contact Mark

Lucien Lawrence

Lucien joined Housing Justice as a member of the London Catalyst Team in October 2020. He has worked for the last 10 years in the homeless sector, most recently as the Service Manager for a hostel and resettlement project in Brent. Prior to this, he was the Outreach Coordinator in the borough, responsible for responding to rough sleeping at a time of unprecedented growth.

He has a specific interest in the provision of services to young homeless people, having established the Boost Up Young Homeless programme, which matched young homeless people to accommodation that was previously out of their price range. Having worked on the front line during the 2014-15 refugee crisis, he has a particular interest in the provision of support to refugees, and learnt Arabic in order to better communicate with service users from Syria, Sudan and Eritrea.

Interested in how other countries are responding to homelessness, Lucien has been to projects in New York and Lebanon in order to observe good practice abroad and how it can apply here.

He is London born and bred and currently lives in Battersea.

Contact Lucien

Charlie O’Sullivan

Charlie has more than 20 years’ experience working in the homeless sector starting as a Janitor at St Mungo’s and moving on to become Area Manger and Regional Head.

Recently he has worked on a variety of consultancy projects including systems reviews, setting up businesses and also the development of an environmental education app.

He joined Housing Justice September 2018. Since then he’s been working on the equipping shelters project. He’s enjoying working with grass roots organisations and local communities coming up with new approaches and perspectives to help get people off the streets extending and bolstering the 700 bed shelter network.

The highlight so far has been getting the Glasshouse shelter in Islington up and running where a collective turned a derelict building into a therapeutic community space for rough sleepers.

Contact Charlie

Isabella Harriss

Izzy is the manager of the Best Practice and Innovation team and works to support Winter Night Shelter Projects across England.

Previous to Housing Justice, Izzy worked for several years for a drug and alcohol charity and likes to consider herself a Recovery Advocate. With a career that started off in the homelessness sector working for a social enterprise in Oxford she has also worked and volunteered at her local Winter Night Shelter over several seasons.

Izzy is passionate about community led social action, and when she’s not at work you will find her running around after her 2 children or scouring record shops in her home town of Nottingham.

Contact Isabella

Bernardo Cañas

Bernardo joined the Best Practice & Innovation Team in June 2021, working from Coventry.

He arrived in the UK in 2013 after completing an MA degree in International Development and Cooperation in Madrid. In 2014, he had a difficult experience of sofa surfing for a month while looking for affordable rent in Oxford, and in 2017 he eventually became the project coordinator of Coventry Winter Night Shelter, fulfilling his dream of helping people who experience homelessness.

After three years leading the project, in 2020 he got the chance to help the homeless as a support worker for Hope into Action: Coventry, switching from temporary shelters to supported accommodation, before joining Housing Justice.

Apart from looking after his new-born son, Bernardo is a keen DIYer and enjoys woodworking. He also plays the cello, is a committed Catholic, and embraces ecumenism by being involved with his wife Victoria in both a Catholic and an Anglican parish.

Contact Bernardo

James Smalley

James joined Housing Justice in December 2022 as Impact Manager, supporting the Winter Night Shelter projects to make better use of their data. Previously James worked in the voluntary and community sector, helping charities in Leicester and Leicestershire to demonstrate their impact.

More recently, James led the data analysis for a European Social Fund for young people furthest from the labour market to get into education, training or work.

James is a keen baker, tennis player and climber. When not at home in Nottingham, you’ll likely find him walking a trail in the Peak District.

Contact James

Emma Fairhurst

Emma joined Housing Justice in October 2023 and works with the Emergency Accommodation team in London.

Before transitioning into the homelessness sector, Emma worked in various refugee support roles – from running a UNHCR emergency transit camp in Lesvos, to working as a legal aid paralegal. She is passionate about social justice, and working with grassroots organisations to best support people in our communities who need compassion and care.

Contact Emma

Beki Winter

Beki has a long history of working in rough sleeping services in central London, but prior to joining Housing Justice, she had had been working in community-led housing having relocated to south Cumbria.

After spending many years working at the crisis end of homelessness, Beki has grown passionate about the importance of communities playing a role in delivering housing that meets the needs of their community, tackles poverty and homelessness, while supporting wellbeing and sustainability.

Beki joined the Faith in Affordable Housing England Team in February 2022 with a desire to bring her experience in community-led housing to churches with surplus land and assets.

Beki is very involved in her local community. Alongside being a Governor at her children’s school, she is also on the board of a local children’s play centre charity and Community Land Trust.

Living on the outskirts of the Lake District with her partner and two young kids, Beki spends as much time as possible walking the hills and swimming in the lakes.

Contact Beki

George Butler

George joined Housing Justice in early 2024 to head up the Citadel programme.

George began his career in the homelessness sector as a Tenancy Sustainment Worker, supporting people who had been experiencing homelessness as they moved into more stable, longer-term accommodation.

George went on to spend over six years working at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), working on numerous initiatives aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness and rough sleeping.

Contact George

Jovinie Kamembele

With a strong background in employment support services, Jovinie has dedicated her time to helping individuals discover careers they truly love. She is passionate about guiding people through career transitions, enabling them to feel fulfilled and accomplished in their professional and personal lives. Her work focuses on empowering individuals to regain confidence, take control of their career paths, and find meaningful roles that align with their personal and professional goals.

Now as a Citadel Coordinator, she’ll support individuals in creating healthy home environments, helping them reintegrate into their communities. She believes that a stable and supportive home life is crucial to overall well-being and plays a key part in fostering a sense of belonging and community connection.

She loves music of ALL genres so she is always ready to take on new suggestion on who to listen to next!

Contact Jovinie

Carl Francis

Carl has worked for charities and social enterprises for over a decade. He started his career working on various projects with older people. He worked to protect older people from rogue traders, generate stock for a local charity shop, and coordinated volunteers on an intergenerational project.

After that, Carl spent over 6 years at a crowdfunding platform. He taught individuals, businesses and communities how to use crowdfunding to fund social, political and community focused causes.

Now, Carl has joined Housing Justice. He will be supporting volunteers to help homeless people in South-East London.

In his spare time. Carl enjoys martial arts, exercise, walks in nature and self-development.

Contact Carl

Nichola d’Urso

Nichola has worked within the homelessness field for almost 20 years, in a variety of roles- from front-line support to Head of Service for supported housing and outreach services for one of the largest social landlords in England. During this time, although working alongside different vulnerability groups, it was always those experiencing homelessness or rough sleeping that she came back to.

Nichola is deeply passionate about supporting others and building strong communities and has led various co-production initiatives – putting individuals at the centre of the design and delivery of the services they receive and ensuring they deliver what works and what matters!

She has recently moved to Eastbourne from London, having decided she is more of a country girl and is currently enjoying long walks across the Downs, her allotment and garden, volunteering at the local foodbank and a variety of craft-based courses at Hastings College.

Contact Nichola

Meiron Avidan

Before joining Housing Justice, Meiron worked for HIAS Europe, supporting Ukrainian refugees. She was integral in establishing their community integration programme, and over her time at HIAS, she recruited and maintained community partnerships in 12 European countries, offering integration support to over 1000 refugees. This role took Meiron to Brussels, where she lived for two years before moving to Bristol in 2023. Before starting her role at HIAS, Meiron gained a Masters in International Development from LSE, taking a keen interest in topics of migration and displacement.

Meiron was born in South Africa and grew up in London. As well as Brussels, she has also spent a year living and working with at risk communities in India. Her own migration story has motivated her to work with displaced communities, and she is particularly strong at relating to people from different backgrounds.

Meiron joins Housing Justice as the Citadel Coordinator for Bristol. In this role, she is excited to use her knowledge of community-based support programmes, to work with people at risk of homelessness, in the city that she now calls home.

Contact Meiron

Sophie Mercer

Sophie joined Housing Justice in September 2024 as one of two volunteer Coordinators for Citadel England.

Sophie was previously the volunteer coordinator for The Bristol Soup Run Trust, where she has been a volunteer herself for over 8 years.

Sophie recruited, trained, and coordinated over 200 volunteers to provide a Soup Run, feeding and supporting the homeless community in Bristol city centre every single night of the year.

Sophie has enjoyed building connections within the homeless community and its services and is a regular volunteer and Hub coordinator for B.O.S.H ( Bristol Outreach Services for the Homeless)

Sophie lives in a small village on the outskirts of Bristol with her two bored teenagers, and two badly behaved rescue dogs.

Contact Sophie

Sarah Basset

Sarah joined Housing Justice in August 2024 as Citadel Co-ordinator in Cornwall. Sarah was previously an area manager for a housing association in Hampshire overseeing the service delivery, team management and contract compliance of several services including outreach, supported accommodation, Housing First, community support and detoxification services. Prior to this, Sarah supported people and teams in support worker and team leader roles across similar services.

Sarah also has a background in managing teams offering domiciliary care services but found a passion for housing and support work after volunteering in a local day centre and night shelter.

Sarah has enjoyed other volunteer experiences, such as hosting at the Portsmouth and Havant Food Cycle kitchens. She was lucky enough to travel to Tanzania with VSO as a team leader on an education-based project in 2017.

Sarah’s main interests are getting outdoors to walk, paddleboard and explore new places. She enjoys cooking and being proactive with recycling and reducing her carbon footprint.

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Kirsty Dexter

Prior to joining Housing Justice, Kirsty worked in the voluntary sector supporting a large network of volunteers in providing a social space and activities to people living with dementia and their carers. Her role included hosting networking events, connecting with the community, being a point of contact for volunteers, and managing a team offering personalised support to the people attending these groups, and she was invited as a guest speaker to present at the Cornwall Dementia Conference 2024.

Kirsty joins Housing Justice as Citadel Co-ordinator for Cornwall. She enjoys working in the voluntary sector and has personal experience of the challenges of homelessness so she is looking forward to supporting the community in helping people facing these situations.

Outside of work, Kirsty trains in Muay Thai, and coaches children and families in the sport. She enjoys exploring the Cornish coast and is an avid reader of sci-fi and fantasy books.

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Mandy Town

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Nigel Williams

Nigel previously worked for Carmarthenshire County Council in the Social Services Department for 22 years and qualified in Care Management. Initially as a day centre supervisor and manager for adults with learning disabilities and then in various project management roles in developing services. His role involved grant applications and developing new enterprises for work and leisure.

Nigel has been on the board of trustees for a local charity and social enterprise for over 10 years, supporting vulnerable adults in employment. He has volunteered for the national charity ‘Teen Challenge’ drug rehabilitation centre.

Nigel has supported the work of Lifepoint Church, one of the night shelter venues in their charity ‘Hope’ which supplies food hampers to individuals and families in need.

Nigel has volunteered with the Swansea Night Shelter for 7 years beginning in 2013 and undertaken the role of shift leader. He is passionate to see individuals that are homeless becoming housed and supported to maintain their tenancies and become integrated into their community.

He joined Housing Justice Cymru in 2019 as a Catalyst Worker, overseeing and managing the Swansea Night Shelter and developing the Citadel volunteer project which supports former guests of the night shelter and other referrals.

In his spare time Nigel plays the guitar and has written and recorded some self-penned songs. He enjoys cycling and his greatest cycling achievement has been cycling from North to South Wales over 2 days raising funds for charity.

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Joanne Jones

Joanne joined Housing Justice in April 2022. She worked in housing and homelessness related roles for over 10 years, starting with spending her weekends serving soup in the tunnels below Manchester Piccadilly Station. She studied Religion and Theology at Manchester University, with a particular focus on Christian social action. She has worked for a local authority and housing associations in the past but particularly enjoyed working for charities and believes they bring something of unique value to the homelessness sector. She is looking forward to involving the community in supporting people experiencing homelessness.

She lives in North Wales with her young family and loves supporting community projects. She’s a Welsh learner and attends a bilingual Welsh and English chapel.

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Stacey Webber

Stacey joined Housing Justice in October 2021. She was Project Coordinator at Llanelli Mind before working with people experiencing homelessness to improve their mental health and wellbeing. Before Mind she was self employed as a personal trainer. Prior to that she was studying for a degree in Alabama.

A passion of hers is safeguarding individuals who are at risk and maximising their safety whilst also helping them improve their mental health and wellbeing; enabling them to thrive regardless of their personal backgrounds and experiences.

Her spare time includes looking after three children, coaching a Women’s football team, and trekking through forests and difficult terrain with her wife, Vicki.

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Romy Wood

Romy joined Housing Justice Cymru in September 2021 to coordinate the Hosting project for people seeking sanctuary in Wales. She is proud to be part of the powerful community of people and organisations working towards the Welsh Government commitment to becoming a Nation of Sanctuary. She works with organisations in the refugee and asylum sector and the housing sector, bringing the two together to form strong partnerships.

Before she came to Housing Justice Cymru, Romy was the Triage Lead at Welsh Refugee Council. She worked with clients at all stages of the asylum journey and issues including wellbeing, destitution, asylum support and mainstream support. She is registered at OISC Level 1 Asylum and Protection and Immigration.

Romy has a background in teaching, having taught Drama and Theatre in large comprehensive schools for ten years before moving to the Open University, where she taught Creative Writing online, at day schools and in prisons. She has also written novels and short stories.

Romy loves flying trapezes and aerial hoops. She is passionate about the power of circus and its impact on mental and physical health.

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Victoria Turovska

Victoria has nine years of experience working as a prosecutor in Ukraine and during this time she had various different roles. As a crime investigator she carried out investigations involving economic crime, compliance with state law, and she was also involved in the protection of minors, disabled and vulnerable individuals.

In spare time, she enjoys painting with watercolours and oil.

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Bex Kentfield

Prior to joining Housing Justice Cymru, Bex worked in the prevention of domestic abuse and sexual violence sector as a community trainer and project coordinator. She began her career working frontline in a hostel for homeless young women, and has always been interested in innovative housing solutions. Bex joins HJC as Project Manager for the Faith in Affordable Housing project in Wales.

Bex grew up in Sri Lanka and Hong Kong, moving back to the UK for university where she completed her undergraduate degree in International Development and her Masters degree in Gender and Development studies. Bex worked and volunteered in The Netherlands, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia before settling in Wales. She lives in Cardiff with her partner and her rescue dog, and when not working loves to go camping and explore Wales with them.

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Emma Torbarina

Prior to transitioning to the non-profit sector, Emma worked in various support roles within the Australian Government including developing and implementing Biosecurity Policy.

Emma has a BA in Media and Marketing Communications and while she was at university, she volunteered with multiple non-profit organisations, dedicating her time to raising awareness and funds for their initiatives. This experience solidified her commitment to community service and ignited a passion for making a difference.

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