A ome for everyone
Our Strategy 2015-18
During this strategy Shelter will turn 50, a milestone in any life.
It is one that deserves reflection on the past, on successes and
failures as well as thoughts on the future and what it might hold.
In many ways, however, we wish we weren’t here at all; that we had
succeeded in our founding ambition – to create a society where a
safe, secure, affordable home was available to everyone and that
homelessness, as a blight on our country, had been eliminated.
“At Shelter we believe passionately that
everyone has the right to a safe, secure
and affordable home. Throughout this
strategy we will be bold in our
campaigning and focused on providing
the best possible help to as many people
that need it. We will work together with
our volunteers, our campaigners, our
donors, our supporters and our staff to
make our vision a reality”.
Campbell Robb, Chief Executive
Sadly, despite our many successes over these years, the housing
crisis facing this country is as challenging and as far from fixed
as it was in 1966. Fewer houses are being built, there are too many
families in temporary accommodation, house prices continue to
rise and conditions in parts of the private rented sector are as
bad as we have seen in decades. These are just some of the
consequences of decades of failures by successive governments
to address the root of these problems, to build more truly
affordable homes and to provide a comprehensive housing safety
net.
These are the challenges we face, and which we believe this
strategy can begin to address. Every day we see the very real and
heartbreaking impact on families across the country. The stress,
the depression, the thwarted ambition, the lack of opportunity, the
toll on people’s health and wellbeing and the break-up of
communities. We will not rest while this continues. We will strive to
help as many people as we can to solve the day-to-day problems
they face to get, to keep, or to improve their home. We will create
a mass movement to force housing and homelessness to the top of
the political agenda. We will make sure the solutions to this crisis
are fair and comprehensive and we really will not stop until
everyone has a home.
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In our 50th year we want to focus on our
core belief, that everyone should have a
safe, secure and affordable home.
Those words aren’t just concepts or
descriptions.
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Safe is about being in a supportive
community, being free from harassment
from rogue landlords, and living
somewhere your children aren’t at threat
of electrocution because of the bad wiring
or at risk of poor health from the damp.
It’s also about knowing that if something
happens which means you might lose your
home, there is a safety net there to catch
you.
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Secure is about having a long-term
tenancy so you can plan your life and your
finances for more than a few months. It is
about being able to raise issues without
the threat of eviction. And it’s about
knowing there is appropriate, reliable and
empathetic support there for you and your
family if you lose your home.
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Affordable is about making sure there are
enough homes built, so that everyone in
our society can buy or rent a home that
doesn’t mean they have nothing left to live
on and that the prices of homes to buy,
and private and social homes to rent, are
in touch with what people earn and leave
no one behind. It’s also about knowing
that there is help available for the times
when you might struggle to pay your rent
or mortgage, to help you through the
difficult times we all face.
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We will strive every day
to give people the help
they need and campaign
relentlessly to achieve
our vision of a home for
everyone.
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To reach our goal, we will
■
campaign to make housing more affordable,
renting fairer and homelessness a thing of
the past.
■
ensure the governments in Scotland and
England plan to build the homes we need.
■
create a mass movement to campaign for
social change, spread awareness of the
support we offer and raise more money to
support the people who need our help.
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■
build public support for a comprehensive
housing safety net.
■
ensure those who come to us get the best
possible help to resolve their housing
problems in the most timely and efficient
way possible.
■
ensure that our staff and our volunteers
have the tools they need to achieve our
vision.
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Bold
We are not afraid to set the agenda or challenge the status quo. We
want to make an impact and we will make sure our voice, and the
voice of those we help, is heard.
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Our Aim
At Shelter we believe that for too long too many people in this country have
suffered the consequences of a housing crisis, decades in the making. That needs
to change. We are not afraid of challenging the status quo, of asking the difficult
questions and always offering a solution to make it happen.
Our aim for our next three years of campaigning is to vastly improve the lives of the
millions of people struggling with bad housing or homelessness by putting the UK on
the right course to finally end our housing crisis.
Making It Happen
■
■
We will focus on winning change on
the root causes and target our efforts
to making the greatest positive
impact for the people we help. We will
do this by propelling concern about
housing further into the public
mainstream and uniting people in
demand for action.
We will ensure the Westminster and
Holyrood governments put in place
plans to build the homes we need and
implement reforms to the private
rented sector to ensure it offers a
safe, secure and stable home for
families and individuals.
■
We will work tirelessly to begin to
overcome the stigma and attacks that
cloud the current debate about the
housing safety net.
■
We will set out a comprehensive,
costed policy programme for what
a stronger future housing safety net
would look like.
■
We will put the voices and stories of
those affected by the housing crisis
at the centre of everything we do and
ensure that they are heard at every
level of government and beyond.
Our Commitment
To win the lasting public and political support that will make housing more
affordable, renting fairer and homelessness a thing of the past.
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Passionate
We have a fundamental belief in social justice, fairness and a place
to call home. That drives us to find solutions and means we won`t
give up until we achieve our vision.
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Our Aim
We are passionate about what we do. We know that a safe, secure and affordable
home is the bedrock on which lives, families and communities are built. That is why
we aim to inspire and mobilise people to join forces with us in our fight to end
homelessness and bad housing.
Making It Happen
■
We will create a movement that
inspires more people, raises more
money and helps to bring about the
change our society so desperately
needs.
■
We will use the anniversary of our 50
years fighting for the rights of those
in need of a home to look back at our
history, reinforcing our critical role in
society as we step into the future.
■
We will harness our digital capability
to reach out to more people in a way
that is meaningful and relevant and,
in turn, enables them to reach out on
our behalf.
■
We will focus on communities and put
them at the centre of our movement
for change, bringing together our
advice and support hubs, our shops,
our campaigners and our fundraisers.
■
We will speak as one Shelter, with
passion and focus. We will put the
people we help at the centre of our
communications.
Our Commitment
Inspired by our history we will make ‘a home for everyone’ a vision that nobody can
ignore and a campaign that many will join.
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Focused
We focus on how to make a difference and achieve sustainable
change for individuals, families and the wider society. We choose
our battles and we fight them in public and behind the scenes.
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Our Aim
We know that there are more people than ever in need of our help. Families that are
one pay cheque away from losing their home, people left with nowhere to turn as
they face eviction and thousands living in damp, dangerous and intolerable
conditions.
Our aim for this strategy will be to focus on pioneering services that prevent
homelessness and offer advice and support, available every day, to ensure those
who need our help can get a home, make it fit to live in and keep their home.
Making It Happen
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■
However people come to us,
whether by calling our helpline,
visiting our advice and support
services or through our website, we
will provide them with the best
possible help to solve their housing
problems, quickly, effectively and
compassionately.
We will work with our partners across
the UK to ensure that good housing
advice is available wherever you are
and however you need it.
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We will focus our efforts on
addressing the causes as well as the
consequences of housing problems.
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We will ensure that the people who
come to us for help play a central role
in shaping what we do.
■
We will use our knowledge and
experience to create innovative
solutions for new and existing
problems and expand our services to
help people with housing problems
who are not receiving, or are ineligible
for, help.
Our Commitment
We will deliver sustainable outcomes for our clients by tackling the causes and
consequences of housing problems.
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Together
We bring expert knowledge, experience and talent together
to help us achieve our goal.
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Our Aim
To achieve the aims set out in this strategy we will ensure that our staff and our
volunteers have the tools they need to deliver the advice, support and campaigns that
transform the lives of the people we are here to help.
Making It Happen
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We will embed an organisational culture
where our staff and volunteers can
engage with our aims and live our
values to deliver our strategy and be
accountable for their role in doing so.
We will do this by providing the
structures, systems and technology
that enable us to work seamlessly
together to achieve our vision, ensuring
everyone is supported to develop the
skills and capabilities needed to do so.
■
We will ensure that our infrastructure,
our geography and the way we work
focuses the organisation on the
achievement of our aims.
■
We will take an approach to pay and
reward which is fair and reasonable
and ensures we can recruit and retain
the people we need.
Our Commitment
To ensure that our focus, our energy, our people and our organisation are channelled
as effectively and efficiently as possible to make the biggest difference we can to
the millions who need our help.
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Generations of people in this country have been failed. They and
their children have grown up and lived in homes that were just not
good enough. For 50 years we have been trying to change this, to
put a home for everyone at the centre of political and public
debate. And we have had successes. But not enough. That is why
as we approach our 50th year we are determined to finally make it
happen. But we know we can’t do this alone. We need your help to
make this happen, to help us meet our vision of a home for
everyone. Whatever you do, wherever you are you can join us in
this mission. As a donor, as a funder, as a campaigner, as a
volunteer - no matter what you have to offer, it will make a
difference to our fight. It will help us to help millions believe there
is someone on their side. Someone who believes in them, believes
they should have a home they can be proud of.
Join us. Make our vision a reality.
Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our
advice, support and legal services. And we campaign to make sure that, one day, no one will have to
turn to us for help. We’re here so no one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own.
To support our work or to get advice visit shelter.org.uk
or call our free helpline on 0808 800 4444
Design: Joe Mortimer
Photography: Adam Hinton, Benjamin Youd, Kate Stanworth, Kayte Brimacombe, Matt Cetti-Roberts, Nick David, Nick Hedges, Radek Bajenski
Shelter, 88 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HU
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0300 330 1234
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shelter.org.uk
Registered charity in England and Wales (263710) and in Scotland (SCO02327)