26 Oct 2026
Tara Moore, National Housing Development Manager at The Forward Trust, reflects on her leadership journey and the value of partnership working following a recent invitation to speak at a Homeless Link leadership event.
by Tara Moore
As National Housing Development Manager at The Forward Trust, my role is to help ensure we continually strive for excellence in the support we offer people experiencing homelessness. Our ambition is to provide safe recovery housing within a homelessness prevention model that gives people the stability they need to rebuild their lives.
What makes this work so meaningful is that we are not simply providing houses. We are helping people find homes, stability and the foundations for recovery. For many of the people we support, safe and secure housing is the starting point for lasting change.
Achieving that is only possible through strong partnerships. Whether it's working alongside local authorities, housing providers, healthcare services or sector bodies, collaboration helps us build better outcomes for the people we serve. It is also why I am passionate about investing in the people who deliver homelessness and housing support services.
This is one of the reasons The Forward Trust strongly supports the National Homelessness Skills Framework, developed by Homeless Link. The framework provides a shared foundation for workforce development across the sector, helping organisations build skills, strengthen professional standards and support career progression.
In our latest Annual Review 2024/5, housing need within a Forward Trust-managed property found that 1 in 4 of our community clients were either homeless or insecurely housed at the point of assessment, including nearly 1 in 2 of our prison clients.
That same year, we supported 188 people into suitable housing programmes – but demand remains high.
If you are a local authority and interested in commissioning our housing advice, support and tenancy sustainment services, please contact:
At The Forward Trust, all frontline housing support workers have either completed, or are currently undertaking, accredited homelessness qualifications alongside personalised development pathways. This reflects our belief that investing in people ultimately improves outcomes for the individuals and communities we support.
My own leadership journey has reinforced this belief.
Having completed both the Emerging Leaders and Established Leaders programmes delivered by Homeless Link, I have experienced first-hand the value of professional development and peer learning. The programmes challenged my thinking, broadened my perspective and strengthened my confidence as a leader.
I was therefore delighted to be invited back as a guest speaker and panel member at a recent Homeless Link welcome event for aspiring and emerging leaders from across the housing and homelessness sector.
Returning as a speaker felt particularly meaningful. Not long ago, I was sitting in the audience learning from others. Being able to share my own experiences and contribute to conversations about homelessness prevention, workforce development and recovery was an opportunity to give something back.
The event also highlighted something I have come to value deeply throughout my career: no organisation can tackle homelessness alone. Some of our greatest successes come when organisations share knowledge, challenge one another constructively and work towards common goals. Strong partnerships create stronger services.
That is why organisations such as Homeless Link play such an important role. By bringing professionals together through leadership programmes, training and networking opportunities, they help strengthen the collective response to homelessness and support the development of future sector leaders.
At The Forward Trust, we are proud to be part of those wider partnerships. By investing in people, supporting professional development and working collaboratively across the sector, we can continue improving outcomes for people experiencing homelessness and help shape a stronger future for homelessness support services.
After all, strong services are built by strong people, and strong people thrive when supported by strong partnerships.
