Shelter : Initial Research

Shelter: Initial Research

‘Shelter’ is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to help millions of people every year who are struggling with bad housing or homelessness through. Based in the city of London, London, UK, the Shelter charity serves in both England and Scotland. With an approximation of an annual revenue being £60,902,000. They offer support to those who are in unfortunate conditions via advice, support and legal services. They propose multiple campaigns in a bid to eternally eradicate homelessness within the UK. The launch of Shelter hugely benefited from the coincidental screening, in November 1966, of the BBC television play "Cathy Come Home" ten days before Shelter's launch. ‘Cathy Come Home’ was written by Jeremy Sandford and directed by Ken Loach; it highlighted the wide-scale issue of the number of homeless in Britain. The film led to a public outcry and calls for action after its broadcast. Shelter was then shortly set up by the Rev Bruce Kenrick after forming the Notting Hill Housing Trust in 1963. The Shelter charity was founded on 1st December 1966, sprouting out of the work on behalf of homeless people which was then being carried on in Notting Hill in London. It gives advice, information and advocacy to people in need, and tackles the root causes of bad housing by lobbying government and local authorities for new laws and policies to improve the lives of homeless and badly housed people. It works in partnership with Shelter Cymru in Wales and the Housing Rights Service in Northern Ireland. There are multiple ways in which Shelter benefits the homeless, an example being their Face-to-face services, whereby they give advice and support services across the UK give people one-to-one, personalised help with whatever their housing issue may be. They also offer a free emergency helpline, which is open 365 days a year and is often the first port of call for people facing a housing crisis.

Christmas Advertisement Campaign:

Shelter launched a new advertising campaign to highlight the fact that anyone can lose their home this Christmas. The charity’s new ‘Disappearing Houses’ print ad was presented upon 2500 tube card panel adverts on London Underground trains and in national newspapers and magazines over a period of two weeks.

Created by advertising agency Leo Burnett who gave their time pro bono and featuring photography by Blinkk, the ad campaign depicts an ordinary family completely exposed after their home has literally disappeared. The advertisement aims to show how easy it is for any one of us to lose our home and how suddenly it can happen.  Gary Simmons, Board Account Director at Leo Burnett, said: “Hopefully this campaign will help more people to realise the severity of the housing problem in the UK and help those facing the nightmare of losing their home.”

The poster was created with the hopes that it will raise awareness of the work Shelter does and then also encourage people to support as they get set to help increasing numbers of people needing their vital advice services this Christmas. The advertising campaign launched a week after the Government announced massive cuts to housing in the Comprehensive Spending Review, where at an all ready difficult time of the year, more and more people will be at risk of losing their home. Shelter is highlighting it’s vital role in helping people when things start to spiral out of control.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, replied to the print advertisement with: “Every two minutes someone in this country faces the nightmare of losing their home. But as the Government prepares to slash housing investment and support, there is no question this will increase in the coming months. Our new advertising campaign launches at a time when millions of people are set to face real hardship and tough times ahead. Not only are we hoping to reach out to those who need our help but also increase support so that we can help as many future victims of the housing crisis as we can.”