About this speaker
Matt Downie MBE has been Chief Executive of Crisis since January 2022. He is one of the country’s leading experts and advocates on ending homelessness, serving on advisory bodies for the UK, Welsh and Scottish Governments, as well as international committees. He was awarded an MBE in the 2019 Queen’s birthdays honours, for ‘Services to tackling homelessness’.
Matt was Crisis’ Director of Policy and External Affairs from July 2014, leading a number of significant initiatives in policy, research, best practice and service development in homelessness. This includes leading the campaign to achieve the Homelessness Reduction Act which came into force in 2018.
Prior to his work at Crisis Matt led award winning teams and successful campaigns at Action for Children and the National Autistic Society, and he began his career at Shelter.
Matt is also the Chair of London Youth Theatre, and the UK Board representative for FEANTSA, the European-wide body on homelessness.
