Shelter warns of increasing homeless crisis over Christmas

Homeless charity Shelter has warned the rough sleeping crisis on the streets of towns and cities across the North West will get worse the critical Christmas season.

Shelter received a call for help in the region every four minutes in the run up to Christmas last year, and is warning the situation this winter could be set to get worse.

The news comes in the wake of Chancellor Philip Hammond’s pledge in the Budget to plough £28m into helping the homeless in Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands.

But a crippling combination sky-high rents, problems with Universal Credit and a dearth of affordable homes means this winter the charity is preparing for huge numbers of people struggling with housing problems to come to it for support.

The Shelter helpline is funded by M&S customers throughout the festive season, with 5% of every purchase made from the ‘Festive Collection for Shelter’ going directly to the charity.

This means the helpline can offer housing advice and support every single day of the year for people battling bad housing and homelessness.

Mark Cook, a helpline adviser for Shelter, said: “Every Christmas I speak to parents in despair as they face the trauma of homelessness, when they should be filling stockings and looking forward to Christmas dinner.

“Even though I’ll be working at Christmas, I think myself so lucky to be able to go home at the end of the day when there are so many families having to go without such a basic need.

“No family should face the agony of losing the roof over their heads, which is why we’re calling on people to get their lunch from M&S’s Festive Collection for Shelter.

“Something as simple as buying a sandwich could make the world of difference to a family whose home is on the line this Christmas.”