Shelter: Everyone Deserves a Home

Shelter is a UK-based charity dedicated to helping anyone who is homeless or suffering in bad housing. Through its website and in-person local services, Shelter provides free, confidential advice, information, and advocacy to people in housing need. In addition, the organization campaigns for lasting political change to put a permanent end to the housing crisis.

Shelter believes that everyone should have a home. The organization was founded in 1966 by the Reverend Bruce Kenrick, who was alarmed by the state of the tenements around his Notting Hill parish. With slums multiplying in the inner cities, homeless families being forced into overcrowded hostels, and landlords exploiting their tenants, Kenrick knew something had to be done and thus launched Shelter to complement the work of charities providing housing.

For the past five decades, Shelter has developed practical solutions to address the housing crisis; lobbied government and local authorities for better laws and policies; and worked alongside the housing sector to promote good practice, provide professional training, and publish reports.