Shelter Winter Appeal
25 November 2024
4 min read
This winter, The Co-operative Bank and Shelter are standing with families facing the worst of the housing emergency.
Giving every child a safe place to call home
This year has seen record numbers of children living in unfit temporary accommodation. In fact, over 150,000* children in England could spend Christmas homeless in temporary accommodation, which can harm their physical and mental health, their education and, in some cases, it can even be deadly. (*Figures accurate as at 31 March 2024)
Ask them what they want for Christmas and, amongst the usual toys and treats, you’ll also get signs of the UK’s housing emergency laid bare: A flushing toilet. My own bed. To see my friends again. No more damp.
No child should ever have to live like this.
Together, The Co-operative Bank and Shelter have been campaigning for fairer housing, amplifying the voices of our customers and supporters. Now, we’re standing with families by supporting Shelter’s Appeal; helping to raise crucial funds this winter. All we want for Christmas is for every child to have a safe place to call home.
Making a positive difference this winter
This Christmas, Shelter’s helpline will remain open, to help families find a safe place to call home. Anyone who is homeless, facing winter in temporary accommodation or worried about losing their home can access Shelter’s free helpline for advice and guidance on next steps.
The money you donate to the appeal can make a real difference to families at this time of year:
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£6 could enable someone to make contact with Shelter’s legal team and start the process of getting the expert help and support they need for their family.
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£12 could enable Shelter’s legal team to call a social landlord and put forward a proposal to save a home.
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£20 could fund a web chat providing essential housing advice for someone living in unfit temporary accommodation this Christmas.
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£29 could help answer a family’s call to Shelter’s emergency helpline with the urgent advice they need.
Read more about Shelter’s helpline
Making an impact on families
When you make a donation this Christmas, you’re making a difference to the lives of families facing the housing emergency. Like Natalie and Amanda who, with the help of Shelter, were able to find long-term housing so their families could feel safe again.
Natalie's story
With Shelter’s help, Natalie and Tia have now been living in their own social housing flat for the past 12 years. Just after giving birth, Natalie was served a no-fault eviction from her rental flat, and then spent the first four years of Tia’s life homeless.
Moving between hostels and short-term rented studios was hard for them, as it meant instability, feelings of isolation and really affected Tia’s learning and development, and Natalie’s mental and physical health.
It was whilst in the final hostel that Natalie decided to reach out to Shelter. She knew that getting her life back on track and finding somewhere safe and secure for her and Tia to live wouldn’t be easy. But with Shelter’s help Natalie knew she had someone to fight her corner; offering her practical support to help with her housing emergency.
“Shelter put me in contact with the right people. So I felt like a safety net was being put around me. It wasn't just my housing, it was everything that they gave me access to and helped me with.”
In January 2011, Natalie and Tia’s life changed when with Shelter’s support, they finally got themselves their social housing flat. After all of those years they were finally settled and were living somewhere safe and secure. And for Tia, she finally found somewhere to call home.
“I think one of my favourite things was finally being able to celebrate Christmas. I remember the first Christmas we had in this house. I was really happy because we were in our home and it kind of sealed the deal.”
Amanda's story
With support from Shelter, not only have Amanda and her two children finally found their permanent home, but the time spent homeless and in temporary accommodation inspired Amanda to go back into education. And she’s created a multi-media music, speech, video and projections project that is going on a nationwide tour of the UK.
Between evictions, COVID, unsafe accommodation and rental discrimination due to Amanda being self-employed, the family were made homeless, and the emotional and financial stress was having a huge impact on Amanda and her children.
After being moved around to 11 different hostels within just seven weeks, Amanda decided to contact Shelter for help. The Shelter helpline was able to give Amanda advice; including helping to prepare the witness statement for her court hearing, and linking her in with their family support services.
“The support was unbelievable and there was loads of things. Things like home visits, they always got back to me, they helped source funds, grants, and even Christmas decorations for us. You know, it was complete support.”
After continued support from Shelter, the family finally found their permanent home, and Amanda was determined to give something back. Not only is she donating the ticket revenue from her FEAR (Families Emergency Accommodation Rehabilitation) tour to Shelter, but she’s hosting fundraisers and fronted the ‘This is not a home campaign’, calling on the then government to unfreeze housing benefits, delivering the petition to Downing Street.
“In our current climate, more than ever, Shelter needs support. Without their help I would definitely not have coped as well nor the kids. Not one day was missed of school, college or work due to the family support we received.”
Your donation won’t be restricted to a particular action, but will help Shelter to support families and children this winter.
Shelter is a registered charity in England and Wales, No. 263710 and Scotland, No. SC002327.