Shelter
Preventing homelessness and supporting people to thrive at home
Our project at a glance
- Participating GDNs: Cadent, Northern Gas Networks, SGN and Wales & West Utilities
- Priority vulnerability group: People facing homelessness
- Strategic priority area: Supporting priority vulnerability groups to access tailored support services
- Support target: 57,024 households over 12 months
- Duration: December 2024 to December 2025
- Investment: £1,121,712 over 12 months
- Forecast SROI: £42.83
Why we’re working together
When most people think of homelessness, they think of rough sleepers, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of people across the country are homeless, but they don’t sleep rough on our city streets. For these individuals and families, their experience of homelessness is hidden as it happens behind closed doors.
It’s the working mum living with her two children in temporary accommodation because she can’t afford to privately rent. It’s the man, recently divorced, unable to meet his mortgage payments and facing repossession with nowhere else to go. And it’s the family of four struggling to make ends meet as fuel prices continue to rise, forcing them to decide between paying their rent or heating their home.
We’ve joined together with Shelter and Britain’s three other gas networks to support vulnerable people either at risk of or already experiencing homelessness and the associated financial issues, such as fuel poverty, debt, and other arrears.
Project objectives
- Providing emergency support for people at immediate risk of becoming homeless
- Supporting households with personalised income and debt support
- Upskilling Shelter teams with fuel poverty and debt advice training
- Raising awareness of carbon monoxide safety
- Raising awareness of the Priority Services Register and supporting households to sign up
How we’re working together
One-to-one income maximisation and debt support
Shelter’s emergency helplines offer emergency support to people at immediate risk of becoming homeless. Our partnership will enable the charity to increase the capacity of this national service to support more at-risk households.
Through Shelter’s Helpline Plus service, we’re providing targeted income and debt support for people facing housing-related income and debt issues. Expert advisers support households with debt reduction, tariff switching and accessing unclaimed benefits, as well as signposting to other support organisations for specialist advice.
Awareness-raising marketing campaign
Our programme will include a 12-month digital marketing campaign to promote Shelter’s vital housing and homelessness advice to people experiencing poor and unsafe conditions. The campaign will also promote new advice pages on the Shelter website dedicated to raising awareness of carbon monoxide safety and the Priority Services Register. This essential multi-channel campaign aims to reach 8,320,105 people.
Upskilling Shelter teams and the wider housing sector
Through our partnership, we’re upskilling Shelter’s helpline advisers on how to identify fuel poverty and provide fuel debt advice. We’re also working with Shelter to upgrade the content it provides to housing professionals and legal providers. As well as streamlining and simplifying advice around homelessness prevention, home safety and benefits entitlement, the new content will also signpost housing sector professionals to energy efficiency advice.
How to get involved
Accessing support from Shelter
As a VMCA partner, you can refer people to Shelter through the charity’s free helpline. You can also find information for professionals on the Shelter website.
If you’re at risk of becoming homeless or have a housing problem, you can find advice on the Shelter websites for England, Scotland and Wales.
Becoming a Shelter partner
You can find out more about partnering with Shelter by calling the free helpline.
As the number of people trapped in homelessness continues to hit record highs, our frontline teams are working tirelessly to help people find and keep hold of a safe home. Skyrocketing private rents and a dire lack of social housing have left people across the country struggling to keep a roof over their heads and having to cut back on household essentials.
It's only through the generosity of our partners like the GDNs that we can continue our vital work and provide specialist income and debt advice to prevent more people from being pushed into homelessness.