More than 100 professionals join our poverty, health and housing inequality conference

But if homelessness, healthcare and housing organisations work together, we can create change. It's why Porchlight and Social Enterprise Kent hosted a poverty, health and housing inequality conference.

The voluntary and community sector conference brought together more than 100 professionals from charities, health and social care organisations, local government and education.

It was a chance to explore the issues people face and look at ways in which everyone can work together to find sustainable solutions.
"Poverty, health and housing inequality are complex problems affecting millions of lives, but they are also avoidable," says Porchlight's director of income generation and communications Adam Colthorpe.

"This is a valuable opportunity to come together and tackle the biggest challenges people are facing. We must explore new ways to deliver the services people need. Everyone deserves a safe home and fairer future."

Health inequalities in Kent and Medway

The seriousness of health inequalities - unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population, including conditions they may experience and the care that is available to them - was a key theme.

Guest speakers highlighted factors that create health inequalities: education, employment, housing and the environment. The fact that Kent's worst health outcomes can be found in coastal communities was also discussed.

The truth is that where you are born and live can mean a difference of up to 18 years in life expectancy. This desperately needs to be addressed.

Working collaboratively to address these issues

Combining the expertise and experience gathered at the conference (and beyond) was another major theme of the day.

A look at work that's happening around the county got attendees talking about ways they can work together. And ideas about how to do this were explored in more depth during a panel discussion with leaders from several local and national organisations, including our new chief executive Tom Neumark.

Moving forward

This was an opportunity for the voluntary and community sector in Kent and Medway to come together. Our hope is that this is just the start. The challenges people are facing cannot be overstated, but together we can address them and deliver the services that people need.

Thank you to our guest speakers and panellists

• Adam Lott, head of health inequalities at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation
• Claire Shelton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Social Enterprise Kent
• Dr Ellen Schwartz, deputy director of public health at Kent County Council
• Dr Michael Alexander, senior research fellow at UCL Institute of Health Equity
• Dr Natalie Goldring, head of Public Health Intelligence
  
• Ian Soars, chief executive at Spurgeons
• Nadra Ahmed CBE DL, executive chairman of the National Care Association
• Nikki Teesdale, director of delivery at Medway & Swale Health and Care Partnership
• Steve Inett, chair of the Kent & Medway VCSE Steering Group
• Tom Neumark, chief executive at Porchlight
• Zoë Carassik, CEO at Pie Factory Music