Homeless nightmare
Christmas could be different for many this year as the threat of homelessness escalates due to the economic impact of the pandemic on hard-pressed households.
As a result, more people are facing homelessness and housing problems for the first time due to reduced or lost income – including hundreds of thousands of private renters who have fallen behind on rent during the Covid-19 crisis.
Already, 136,000 children are living in temporary accommodation.
There are tens of thousands of families who are homeless and are having to contend with lockdown, living in cramped temporary accommodation, like emergency Bed & Breakfasts and hostels, where it is harder to socially distance or stay safe.
This is why, now more than ever, Nationwide
Building Society is supporting and raising money for housing and homelessness charity Shelter this Christmas.
Between March 23 and the end of November, Shelter’s frontline services helped more than 40,000 people in England with free housing advice and support.
Close to two thirds (65%) of calls to Shelter England’s emergency helpline and webchat services are currently from people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless – meaning its frontline workers are faced with a high number of urgent and complex cases to deal with.
Shelter’s dedicated Coronavirus advice pages have been viewed a staggering 896,000 times since March.
To answer the volume of urgent calls from people with housing issues related to the pandemic, Shelter is working hard to increase the number of trained housing advisers providing help and guidance on its emergency helpline and webchat.
Nationwide is also proud to fund six new helpline adviser positions across England and Scotland in response to the crisis.
Nationwide Building Society was founded to enable anyone to have a place fit to call home.
That is why the society has been working closely with Shelter for almost 20 years - giving vital support to people who are being denied the right to a safe and secure place to live.
In that time, Nationwide colleagues and members have raised more than £5 million to improve the lives of people in housing need and helping house more than 82,000 people into a home of their own.
"There are tens of thousands of families who are
homeless.”