‘Debt of gratitude’

Merger sees QHA becomes part of QSA this autumn

The director of Quaker Social Action (QSA) has said that the organisation owes ‘a debt of gratitude’ to Quaker Homeless Action (QHA) for their merger later this year.

Director Judith Moran told the Friend that when QHA becomes part of QSA this autumn it will also provide QSA ‘with an obligation for the future – to consult widely about how we can incorporate homelessness within our mission and activities’.

According to a statement on the QSA website, coming together will help to ensure financial sustainability for QHA’s area of work, and will strengthen QSA by adding resources and experience, enabling it to help more people. ‘We are determined to understand the changing landscape of homelessness in Britain, including the impacts of Covid-19, and to identify areas of unmet need and develop effective new services’, it said.

Judith Moran said that QSA was ‘delighted’ when QHA trustees approached them about the possibility of a merger. ‘We already worked very closely together for the last three years on Move On Up, our housing service for young adult carers. No one had ever set up a scheme of this type before but QHA believed in the idea – and in QSA’s ability to run it.’

By opening up merger talks, she said, QHA took ‘another leap of faith’. ‘We have progressed these talks with a shared sense of optimism about what might be possible if we came together.’

A statement from QHA said: ‘Quaker Social Action is the natural choice for a merger. They share our core Quaker values.’

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