Shelter Sheffield updates its housing and homelessness advice centre, after helping over 3500 people in the last year alone

This week saw the opening of Shelter Sheffield's updated service hub, which has new and improved facilities to help meet growing demand in the city. 

The launch event, held at the charity's Furnival House premises, was attended by representatives from Sheffield City Council, Housing Associations and local homelessness charities, with Shelter's chief executive, Campbell Robb, giving the opening speech.

Shelter, which turns 50 this year, opened its first face-to-face service in Sheffield in 1999, providing support to around 30 families a year. Since then the service has grown substantially, with its face-to-face advisers now helping more than 3,500 people annually.

The Shelter Sheffield hub offers a wide range of services to residents of the city, including: housing advice, legal representation, an information and resource centre, and tailored support programmes for families and people struggling to keep a roof over their head.

The hub launch was the first in a series of events in 2016 to mark Shelter's 50th anniversary. The charity was launched in 1966 in response to the chronic housing crisis gripping the country and, although they've helped millions of people in that time, Shelter Sheffield is still seeing overwhelming numbers of people through their doors.

The charity's national housing and homelessness advice helpline, which is also based in Sheffield, received a record 450,000 calls last year.

This summer Shelter Sheffield will be hosting an exhibition of Nick Hedges' heart-wrenching photography depicting shocking housing conditions in the city in the late 60s, and putting on a film screening of the iconic Cathy Come Home film.

Through revisiting Shelter's history, the Sheffield service hope to highlight to the city's residents how far we've come, but also how much more there is to do to end bad housing and homelessness in the region.

Tracey Nathan, Sheffield Hub Manager, said, "We hope that the Shelter Sheffield hub, with its improved facilities, will offer even greater support to the thousands of people battling bad housing and homelessness in the city.

"It's a sad state of affairs that Shelter is needed now just as much as it was fifty years ago, but tragically too many of us still find ourselves without a safe, secure and affordable place to call home.

"Our advice and support really can make the difference between losing your home and keeping it, so as long as people are facing bad housing and homelessness, we will continue to be there to help them."