Cities Ending Homelessness
An initiative exploring how to end global homelessness.
Cities Ending Homelessness is a global initiative with a bold and urgent mission: to bring together policymakers, social innovators, people with lived experience, frontline practitioners and leading academics to explore how we can truly end homelessness.
The challenges are well known - what the world needs now are practical, scalable solutions. By sharing evidence, ideas and successful initiatives from around the globe, we help cities understand how these approaches can be adapted, applied and embedded within their own unique contexts.
Cities are where homelessness is most visible and most concentrated and where the social, financial and political pressures are greatest. But cities are also where innovation thrives. They are the places where new ideas can be tested, partnerships can be forged and transformative change can take root.
There is no single cause of homelessness, and therefore no single solution. No city has all the answers - which is precisely why collaboration is essential. Through the Cities Ending Homelessness Forum, we create a space where leaders can learn from one another, accelerate change and work collectively to build cities where everyone has a place to call home.
Explore our Cities Ending Homelessness reports to discover practical, inspiring solutions already making an impact across the world, or browse our articles for more insights.
The initiative was launched at the Sacramento 2023 Homeless World Cup, strengthened and expanded at the Seoul 2024 tournament and at the Oslo 2025 Homeless World Cup it evolved into our largest Forum to date, running every day alongside the tournament and fully embedding city-level collaboration into the heart of the Homeless World Cup movement.
OSLO 2025 Cities Ending Homeless Forum
7 DAYS
25 SESSIONS
ONE GOAL.
The Cities Ending Homelessness Forum (23-29 August), part of the the Oslo 2025 Homeless World Cup was the first to take place across multiple days. Our solutions-focused approach and the voices of those with lived experience were an integral part of the Forum as organisations and individuals across sectors and the world came together to discuss how to end homelessness.
We heard powerful stories, incredible insights, discussed what is working and what we should do next - all in the electrifying atmosphere of the Homeless World Cup. With two venues in the tournament arena and one in the beautiful surroundings of the Nobel Peace Center, sessions included topics like hope, Housing First, women’s homelessness and gender-based violence, drug and alcohol addiction, loneliness, sport for social impact, building trusted relationships in social work and more.
Thank you to our hosts, The Salvation Army Norway who curated a comprehensive schedule, ensuring the topics were relevant to the needs in Norway, alongside Punkt Oslo, OsloMet and every organisation and individual who created sessions that moved the discussion forward.
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Solutions from around the world
Previous cities ending homelessness Events
Seoul 2024 Cities Ending Homelessness Conference
Our second event took place during our first Homeless World Cup tournament in Asia, at Hanyang University, Seoul on the 15th of September 2024. It was an inspiring day of sharing research, experiences and ideas.
Min-Jung Shin (Vice-Chair of the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup Organizing Committee), who was key in crafting the agenda for the day, was joined by Ki-Jung Lee (President of Hanyang University) and Mel Young (President of the Homeless World Cup Foundation) in welcoming speakers and audience members from across sectors. The opening remarks set the tone for the day - positive messages highlighting the importance of this event, working together and solutions-based thinking.
The welcome was followed by a ‘Declaration for Ending Homelessness’ where everyone was asked to write what they will do to help end homelessness.
Each of the panel discussions throughout the day brought together local and international speakers, to explore solutions to issues specifically contributing to or perpetuating homelessness in Korea.
These powerful conversations were perfectly situated at Hanyang University where their motto is ‘Love, Deed and Truth’, underlining their commitment to social impact.
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Our keynote speakers provided energy and inspiration as we began the day. Jong-Kyun Seo explained homelessness within the Korean context as well as work that has been done to tackle the issue. Rosanne Haggerty gave an overview of successful techniques being used by her organisation Community Solutions in the USA, where they empower local communities to take a person-centred approach to helping those in their area.
Jong-Kyun Seo
Housing Policy Researcher, C-dot & Former President, Korea Housing Management.Rosanne Haggerty
President, Community Solutions. -
A discussed around advocacy for housing as a human right, specifically considering groups who are marginalised, at greater risk of homelessness or of being denied adequate help once homeless. Three of the speakers shared stories from their work to help provide insights into some of the specific causes of homelessness in Korea and the challenges faced by certain groups as they seek help.
Moderator: Min-Seok Jeong
Director, LGBTIQ Youth Support Center Ding Dong.Jun-Hee Kim
Senior Researcher, Korea Center for City and Environment Research.Mi-Ja Nam
Researcher, Gyeonggi-do Institute of Education.Min-Soo Kim
Independent Researcher.Soo-Kyung Hong
Senior Activist, Homeless Action.Jae-Won Kim
Member of the National Assembly, Rebuilding Korea Party.Eric Tars
Senior Policy Director, National Homelessness Law Center, US. -
Examining the Homeless World Cup as an example of a major sporting event with social impact at its core. This was a fantastic opportunity to hear from former players about their experiences of homelessness and how the tournament impacted their lives for the better. The discussion highlighted the importance of legacy building for lasting change in a host city and the potential of sport to create community, build confidence and change perceptions.
Moderator: Alex Richmond (Global Co-Lead, Ashoka Sport for Changemaking).
Mel Young (President, Homeless World Cup Foundation).
Byeong-Hoon An (Executive Director, Big Issue Korea).
Natalie Handley (Former HWC player, Team Wales).
Young-Soo Moon (Former HWC player, Team Korea).
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The affects of climate change are being felt acutely in Korea as floods and heat waves impact the lives of citizens and even causing fatalities. In this session speakers discussed how housing must adapt to the extreme weather and we heard how women in other parts of the world are working together to create secure homes for their communities.
Moderator: Yoo-Jin Lee (Director, Institute for Green Transformation).Habara (Senior Researcher, Sustainable Development Management Center).
Kyung-Jin Lim (Senior Policy Specialist, Seongdong-gu Office).
Jae-Im (Activist, Korean People's Solidarity Against Poverty).
Smruti Jukur (Urban Development Practitioner, SPARC): ROOH (Roof Over Our Heads Campaign).
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The final panel of the day explored community based living, the difference a secure and safe base can make in someone’s life and how connection can welcome people from the margins back into society.
Moderator: Duk-Young Lim (Research Fellow, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs).
Kyung-Ae Han (Senior Researcher, Seoul National University Asia Center).
Jeong-Hwa Seo (Director, Open Women's Center).
Eun-Joo Ko (Chairperson, Ulrim Dure Care Social Cooperative).
Juha Kahila (Head of International Affairs, Y-Säätiö).
Sacramento 2023 Cities Ending Homelessness Conference
Established in 2023
The Cities Ending Homelessness initiative was launched during the Sacramento 2023 Homeless World Cup by our President and Co-Founder Mel Young and our ambassador and former USA Goalkeeper Hope Solo. The half-day conference took place at the tournament venue, Sacramento State University in the middle of the eight-day event (July 8 – July 15, 2023).
The speakers included academics, social innovators and, most importantly, players will lived experience of homelessness and social isolation. The event was a powerful opportunity to take a step back from the excitement of the competition to discuss solutions to this global issue.
