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POWER POLITICAL

How you made housing an election priority – see page 4

How your donations are spent

Last year, over 5 million people turned to Shelter for advice. We couldn't do this without you. For every £1 you donate:

79% is spent directly on helping people through advice, support and campaigning.

21% is spent on fundraising, helping us raise more money to bring even more change.

Contact us

To get in touch, make a gift or for any questions about your donations or this edition of Home magazine please email info@shelter.org.uk or call 0300 330 1234 (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, excluding bank holidays).

For online housing advice and access to our emergency helpline, visit: shelter.org.uk

Shelter Head Office: 88 Old Street, London EC1V 9HU

©Shelter, the National Campaign for Homeless People Limited 2024.

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Registered address 88 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HU.

Your incredible election campaigning

Zee’s support for people facing housing worries

Your feet and the fight for home

Could you include Shelter in your Will?

Welcome to your 2024 October HOME newsletter. As you read these stories from inside our fight for housing justice, I hope you know that this momentum is all powered by you. This issue of HOME showcases the huge variety of work you make possible –you’ve campaigned for housing and homelessness to be top of the agenda during the recent General Election and to hold the new Labour government to account on their promises.

Together we’re pushing for real change that improves renter’s rights and build more social homes to end the housing emergency. You can read more about our recent success and upcoming campaigning on pages 4-6. In this edition of HOME, we also share other aspects of our work that you and other supporters make possible.

We cannot say thank you enough, to you and to all our supporters, for your time, effort and generosity as we move closer to achieving our mission – to end the housing emergency.

Jessica Hosseiny Head of Supporter Retention

An amazing 40,000 Shelter supporters put housing at the top of the political agenda ahead of this year’s general election.

Ahead of July’s vote, you made sure candidates from every party faced up to the housing emergency and set out what they would do about it.

40,000 of you signed our open letter demanding action on our broken housing system. We then delivered copies to the main party HQs, making it very clear how many of us are expecting action.

Shelter supporters also emailed politicians from every party and in every seat across England. And you questioned candidates at local hustings events and spoke to friends, family and people in your communities to explain why you’re voting for housing.

You left us feeling completely inspired –and made sure the new government can’t ignore your voices.

OUR HOUSING MANIFESTO

Led by 75 people from across England’s towns, cities and rural areas, we created our own manifesto for home. It represented people’s real experiences, and highlighted four vital priorities:

• Build a new generation of social homes

• Make renting affordable

• Raise standards in rented homes

• Strengthen housing rights

A huge thank you from everyone at Shelter for your unstoppable campaigning.

SO WHAT NEXT?

Your efforts were immense, but our work is nowhere near done.

Turn over to find out what’s happened since the election.

Your support meant we published our plans on how to end the housing emergency within a week of the election.

During the election campaign, we won important commitments about the future of housing.

The new government promised to review the Right to Buy policy, introduce reforms for renters and supercharge social housing. Now MPs need to follow through on those promises.

So, straight after the election, we launched our 100 Days Housing Challenge. It explained what ministers need to do first.

• Freezing and reviewing the Right to Buy.

• Giving councils what they need to build more social homes.

•Setting requirements for developers to build social houses.

• Passing new legislation for renters – fast.

Thousands of you added your names to our 100 Days petition. And we also published Brick By Brick – our new report setting out how we can build the social homes we need. Thanks to you, we’ll do all we can to make the fight for home a government priority.

SIGN OUR PETITION

Tell the new government to prioritise social rent homes now at shelter.org.uk/100days

BILLS BILLS

THE PLANNING AND INFRASTRUCTURE BILL

Also after the election, the King’s speech included new bills that could finally make it easier to build desperately needed social housing.

We’re waiting for full details, but this bill should help speed up approvals for new housing plans. It should give councils and local authorities extra resources to build more social homes too.

THE DEVOLUTION BILL

The Devolution Bill will make it easier for local authorities to build the social homes needed in their communities. And the fight to stop homelessness will be handled region by region too.

The signs are looking good. Deputy PM Angela has promised the biggest growth in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. But there’s still a long way to go. Thanks to your support, we’ll track these bills and keep holding MPs to account – so this really does lead to a new dawn for England’s social housing. but bill should easier (but good ones)

rZee was homeless on and off for seven years. Now, with a place on our GROW trainee scheme, she’s using her experiences to help others find their way through the housing emergency.

Year after year, Zee experienced the trauma of life without a safe, stable home. She spent time sofa surfing and trapped in temporary accommodation. She rented a flat so damp and mouldy her son would cry out asking not to sleep there. This is what the housing emergency looks like in England today.

Zee came to Shelter for support and legal advice and has now joined our GROW trainee scheme. GROW stands for Getting Real Opportunities of Work. It gives people who have experienced homelessness the chance to gain new skills, improve services and use what they’ve been through to create change.

Zee now has a safe home, and through GROW is working with Housing Rights Workers at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council. When people are struggling with problems that could affect their own housing – like debt and benefit issues – Zee is there to support them. It’s a brilliant example of how your donations inspire life-changing progress.

Since starting my role at Shelter, I have become more confident, and also I feel like I am getting control of my own life back.

SOCIETE GENERALE SUPERSTARS=

We also want to celebrate Societe Generale’s amazing support for We also want to celebrate Societe Generale’s support for the GROW programme. The company has partnered with Shelter since the GROW programme. The company has with Shelter since 2021, and has now has now raised £1.5 million £1.5 for GROW. Amazing!

THIS SEASON

Why not host your own fundraising event to help people facing the housing emergency this winter. You could host your friends or family for a dinner party with a difference, hold a Christmas tree competition, take on a Santa run, gift swap for donations.

Whatever idea you have, be a fundraising hero and raise funds to help everyone get the right to a safe home.

Get inspired with ideas or sign up for an event on our website shelter.org.uk/ownevent

WALK FOR

Join us for Walk for Home this December and discover how powerful your footsteps can be.

Walk for Home is our very own winter walking event where thousands of walkers will take to the streets of London on 3 December to take steps and raise money to stand up against the housing injustice thousands of people face every day. Enjoy a fantastic route along some of London's most iconic landmarks under the twinkling Christmas lights of the city.

Can’t join us in London? Why not organise your own walk? Simply choose your route, distance and date, get your friends and family to join you, and get sponsored to raise life-changing donations for Shelter.

It’s the perfect way to warm your heart while supporting families who are struggling to find a warm, safe home this winter. We have all the resources you’ll need to plan your walk and we’ll even send you a bobble hat once you’ve raised your first £40!

LONDON

When?

3 December 2024

Where? Join us at the start line at The Steel Yard

How far? Pick from a 5km or 10km route

Fundraising target?

Try to raise £120

ORGANISE YOUR OWN WALK

When?

Any time in December

Where?

Wherever you fancy

How far?

That’s up to you

Fundraising target?

Try to raise £120

Your support for Shelter makes one thing clear. You’re determined to fight for home. By leaving a gift to Shelter in your Will, you can keep up that fight for years and generations to come.

At Shelter, we know the future we want to create. It’s a future where everyone has a safe, secure place to call home. Where renting is affordable for everyone. Where no one has to worry about becoming homeless. By including Shelter in your Will, you’ll help us keep fighting until that future becomes a reality.

Scan the QR code, watch our film at shelter.org.uk/freewill or contact Daisy in our Gifts in Wills team on 0344 5151 617 or legacies@shelter.org.uk. Thank you. DISCOVER OUR FREE WILL SERVICE

Our legal experts can help you write a simple Will for free. There’s no obligation to include Shelter in your Will, but any gift you give will change lives forever – because home is everything

Buy your festive essentials from Shelter this winter, so more people have a safe, stable place to call home.