A former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has been appointed associate convener of Scottish Churches Housing Action (SCHA).
The new role for the Very Rev Dr Russell Barr was confirmed at SCHA’s annual general meeting. The Rev Graeme Wilson, convener of SCHA, said: “We are delighted that Russell has taken up our invitation, alongside all his other commitments. His passion has been an inspiration to all of us working on homelessness. We look forward to being part of Russell’s continued contribution to the cause of helping homeless people throughout Scotland.”
Dr Barr, minister of Cramond Church in Edinburgh, has a long-standing interest in homelessness, co-founding the charity Fresh Start and making the issue a theme of his year as Moderator in 2016-17. In his farewell address to this year’s General Assembly, in the presence of the First Minister, he condemned the ‘unacceptable’ level of homelessness in Scotland.