Our impact

Last year we gave information, support and advice to millions of people facing homelessness and experiencing unfit and unsafe housing.

Download our impact report (PDF, 23MB)

We exist to defend the right to a safe home and to fight the devastating impact the housing emergency is having on people and our society.

From the beginning of April 2023 to the end of March 2024:

15,975 households received support from our emergency helpline
12,203 households came to our local hubs in England for support
7.1 million visits were made to our online advice and service pages

15,577 conversations were had on our webchat service
16,293 queries were responded to by our professional advice services
12,900 households who sought help saw a positive change in their housing situation

Read how we created our impact report

Download methodology (PDF, 1.2MB)

Your support makes a difference

Supporting families

Together with supporters and partners, we will fight the devastating impact the housing emergency is having on families like Lily's. Lily is a qualified nurse and, together with her two children, was made homeless when their landlord decided to sell the flat they were renting.

They moved into temporary accommodation at the end of 2022, five miles from where six-year-old Isiah went to school and one-year-old Koby's childminder lived. This was a difficult time for the family but Shelter supported them through it. They were living in one room and her eldest would often fall asleep at school, as her youngest would keep him up during the night. However, last July the family were able to move into a social home in their old area. Lily told us this:

Lily and her children laughing and playing together on a sofa.

Being in our home is lovely. The best feeling is the security, knowing that we can always go back to the same place. For the boys it's the stability of having their own bedroom, having somewhere to put their things. Without Shelter, I don't think it would have happened… at least not as quickly as it did. You guys had a massive impact on managing the process of being homeless, the financial and emotional support and also just knowing the legalities of everything. I have a quote that my friend gave to me when I was homeless that says "after the storm always comes the rainbow" and my house is my rainbow. We're by school, we've got all the things we need. As I'm speaking Isiah is riding his bike round the garden and that wouldn't have happened a year ago.

Empowering local communities

At our Bournemouth Hub, our housing rights workers provide advice and support on housing and homelessness issues. They deliver casework face-to-face at the hub, via telephone and in the community. They also use their expertise to upskill workers at other organisations in the local community.

We delivered drop-in sessions with West Howe Community Enterprises, to understand what the housing need was like in the local community, as well as workshops with introductory advice for volunteers. Now one of the volunteers, Kathy, delivers a weekly drop-in where locals can get support with issues like cost of-living concerns, food vouchers, and support with household bills.

Campaigning for change

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines how much housing benefit private renters can receive each month to help them pay rent. For many, LHA is a vital lifeline standing between them and homelessness. However, since 2020 the LHA rate had been frozen by the government, despite rental prices and the cost of living skyrocketing. Since January 2020, the average UK rent has increased by 23%. In response to this, Shelter launched a campaign calling out the government for its failure to unfreeze housing benefit.

We worked with Vicky, who was previously homeless in temporary accommodation with her children. She wrote an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer telling him about the experiences of thousands of families like hers. The letter gained over 31,000 supporter signatures, all demanding an end to the freeze. At the same time, our campaigns team mobilised 10,000 people to write to their MPs asking for the same. After months of dedicated campaigning, in November 2023 it was announced that the freeze would finally be lifted.