Together, we can harness the power of our community spirit to stand with Shelter in combatting homelessness and housing insecurity in the UK.
A household becomes homeless every three minutes in the UK.
Today, over 164,000 children don’t have a home.
1 in 2 renters are one paycheck away from being homeless.
Who is Shelter?
Shelter is a nationwide charity dedicated to combating homelessness and housing insecurity in the UK. Their mission is to ensure that everyone has a safe, secure and affordable place to call home, because HOME IS EVERYTHING. It’s the foundation on which our lives are built. It opens the door to employment, health, education, and it’s the basis of strong communities.
Shelter offers direct support to those facing housing issues, campaigns tirelessly for housing justice and conducts crucial research to address the UK's housing emergency. They also provide information and resources on the full picture, including repairs, evictions, deposits and more, to support renters in an increasingly challenging market.
Why did we choose Shelter?
Embedded as we are in the communities we provide waste, water and energy services to every day, collecting recycling and waste, supporting community groups and schools through our outreach campaigns and providing affordable, low-carbon heating and hot water via heat networks, many of our frontline colleagues will have seen firsthand how rates of homelessness across the UK are rising. The challenges associated with finding safe, affordable housing are never far from the news too, making this a prominent social issue that everyone will recognise and have some connection with.
"At Veolia, we’re proud to be working with Shelter in Britain and with Housing Rights NI and Focus Ireland as our charity partners. Community spirit is one of our company values and because the housing crisis affects the communities we work in daily, our teams have the power to make a real difference in the lives of those affected. Veolia colleagues will be volunteering, fundraising and helping to spread awareness, all in aid of Shelter’s vital work to combat homelessness and housing insecurity in the UK.”
Beth Whittaker, Chief Human Resources Officer for Veolia Northern Europe
What’s Next for Veolia and Shelter?
We’re partnering with Shelter for a minimum of three years, and in that time, we’ll focus on:
Fundraising:
Volunteering:
As part of our Veolia Cares package, everyone at Veolia can use one paid working day each year to volunteer with a charity of their choice Working with Shelter, we’ll coordinate volunteering opportunities across the country so as many colleagues as possible can get together and support those in need.
Raising awareness of homelessness and housing challenges in the UK:
Our frontline teams witness firsthand the impact that homelessness has on communities and often face high risk situations, such as when rough sleepers seek refuge in large recycling and waste containers. As well as raising awareness with all of our colleagues, we’ll be working closely with Shelter to train our frontline teams on how to engage with people they meet in their essential work.
Providing resources and support for colleagues currently going through housing stress themselves:
Shelter has a comprehensive range of tools and resources on everything from mortgage payments to unfair private evictions which will be available to provide support and guidance for our own Veolia community.
“At Shelter, we’re doing everything we can to support those facing homelessness. We are delighted to be announcing our partnership with Veolia UK to help us in this mission. The support we receive from our partners means we can continue to provide advice, support, and practical assistance for anyone who needs a safe place to call home, while also campaigning for long-lasting change.”
Lauren Thompson, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Shelter
To find out more about our charity partnerships or to get involved with any of our activities in support of Shelter's vital work,