The Vision Project

FOREWORD
WRITTEN BY ROSIE PHILLIPS
DHI’s founder and Chief Executive
How do we achieve our vision to end social exclusion by ensuring that everyone
has their basic needs met and is able to thrive by contributing to the richness and
wellbeing of their community?
That was the question we put to people this year,
to mark DHI’s 20th anniversary. I’ve had the great
pleasure, while writing this foreword, of reading all
the articles contained in this book again, and I am
grateful to all the people who have written them;
for sharing their wisdom and experience with us,
our supporters and the public.
If social exclusion is defined as exclusion from the
prevailing social system, its rights and privileges,
Viv Evans from Adfam wrote movingly about
the social exclusion families experience through
the stigmatising effect attitudes in society have
on people affected by someone else’s substance
misuse, and the devastating effect of stress in
everyday situations. That this is still taboo is
something we must strive to change.
When considering the issue of meeting people’s
basic needs, it’s impossible to ignore the fact
that many people in Britain today live in poverty.
Emma Kernahan offers a vision where we have a
generous redistributive social security system, one
based on respect and trust, not one underpinned
by the Poor Laws of 1601. While on the third
anniversary of the EU referendum, Jeff Mitchell
from Clean Slate Ltd. also considered social
security, work, and how he believes inequality was
a major factor in the vote to leave.
Another impact of inequality, according to Ian
Walmsley, are higher crime rates. His article
explores how our criminal justice system can be
reformed since it currently causes and entrenches
social exclusion. Social, as well as economic
inequality, were written about by One25’s Sarah
Talbot-Williams in her article about sex work for
International Women’s Day and by Stonewall’s
Josh Bradlow, whose article for Pride Month
showed how far we still are from LGBT people
being treated equally by society.
Apart from money, the other basic need that
people really emphasised was housing. Jon
Sparkes from Crisis laid out their ambitious plan
to end homelessness; Stephen Robertson from
The Big Issue Foundation articulated their ethos
of giving people a hand up and helping them
think about the future; and Nick Ballard of Acorn
wrote practically about the changes that need to
take place in the private rented sector to make
it a more accessible and stable option. At the
other end of the spectrum though, Jacob Rees-
Mogg warned about the ‘balance shifting too
far’ in terms of regulations and the possibility of
landlords being put off letting their properties, but
also stressed the desperate need for more homes
to be built. Kevan Forde from Anchor-Hanover
also considered the issue of housing, but with a
particular focus on housing people in later life,
the challenges they face around isolation and
loneliness, and the need to co-produce solutions.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Sandy
Hore-Ruthven from Creative Youth Network drew
attention to the need to build relationships with
young people and move away from the quickfix
results driven culture we are in. Children who
start school without the literacy, language and
communication skills they need to learn and
flourish will have their futures cut short before
they’ve even started, argued Jonathan Douglas,
Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust,
while Phil Harris wrote a fascinating article about
the widening opportunity gap for young people
and how treatment services must get better at
reflecting underlying social functioning levels
curtailed through drug use.
Others writing about drugs focused on reducing
the harm done to the individual and society by
them. Danny Kushlick from Transform made a
case for the legal regulation of drugs as one route
to ending social exclusion, while Nick Wilson
from Exchange Supplies sent out a call for people
to become harm reduction activists again at a
time when drug-related deaths are at a record
high. John Tizard also made a plea for people
to become activists in his article encouraging
the voluntary sector to raise their heads above
the parapet and more openly discuss the causes
of social exclusion, not just dealing with the
symptoms.
DHI’s own Jody Clark wrote about preventing
people from dying as a result of using drugs,
including a more holistic view of public sector
spending. Amanda Deeks made a similar
argument, advocating for early intervention as
well as the need for councils and the NHS to
invest in infrastructure and consider their shared
commissioning strategies. Funding silos remain as
much a problem today as 20 years ago.
Finally, as Marvin Rees says in his article, ‘the
mantra of inclusion is easy to preach and hard to
practice’. However, whether it’s by tackling poverty
through ensuring adequate supply of affordable
housing, ensuring real opportunities for our most
disadvantaged young people through a focus
on literacy, or through overcoming stigma and
discrimination, we can ill-afford to do nothing.
We very much hope this
collection of articles will help
stimulate debate, but more
importantly create real change
for the better.
Thank you.
DEVELOPING HEALTH & INDEPENDENCE
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