“Where there are rogue landlords who are not doing the right thing, we clearly will not be on their side,” she replies. “But I do think we’re going to have to work as a [collective] if we’re going to improve the system and end homelessness.”
Working collaboratively has brought her success in the past. Her work in Westminster while head of NCVO resulted in the Civil Society Covenant – a set of principles designed to help build effective partnerships across civil society and government.
Ms Elliott argues that to “shift the dial on something as systemically unjust as the housing system”, it will take a variety of approaches, from what she calls her “geeky policy work”, to bringing diverse sector groups around the table, and exploring how to empower people locally.
But all this won’t stop Shelter being an “uncompromising campaigner”, Ms Elliott insists.
“It’s in our DNA – and it’s a really important role to play. We’ve seen that you can win policy campaigns only for the political will to change. So again, we cannot be complacent.”
Homelessness strategy
Before Christmas, the government announced its National Plan to End Homelessness. It is the first blueprint to address all types of homelessness and comes as record numbers of households are living in temporary accommodation in England.
A total of 132,410 households were living in temporary accommodation as of June 2025, with the total number of children now reaching 172,420. Yet the sector was lukewarm on the cross-government strategy designed to tackle the crisis.
Can Ms Elliott sum up the strategy in one sentence? “Positive that it’s focusing on prevention, but doesn’t address the underlying causes of homelessness,” she says.
One of its key omissions, Ms Elliott says, was its failure to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance rates, which had been a key ask from the sector. If the government had committed to this, would that have changed Shelter’s view?
“We’ve got to look at how we kind of strip discrimination out of not just a broken housing system, but a biased housing system”
“I think we’d have had a more positive take on it, but I think we would also then have said the only way to end homelessness for good is to build 90,000 social homes. We were very careful to say at the time that the focus on homelessness and the money committed is really positive.”
I’m keen to get a sense of what Ms Elliott thinks about the strategy’s vision, and if she thinks its headline target to halve long-term rough sleeping was ambitious enough.
She defers back to Shelter’s official position: “Our response was really clear – nobody should spend the night in the streets. If you’re at risk of spending that in the streets, you should have access to support and emergency accommodation.”
Union deals
In recent years, Shelter has come under scrutiny for its own staff’s pay and working conditions. Just before Christmas, around 500 members of the union Unite were balloted for strike action. It followed “unprecedented” walkouts at the charity over pay and conditions back in 2022.
The recent strikes were called off when the charity and the union reached a deal involving reducing the working week from 37 to 35 hours, which equates to more than a 5% pay rise, as well as two extra days of annual leave.
Ms Elliott says she is “really pleased” to have reached an agreement with the trade union, adding: “It means we can be laser-focused on the fight for home and the right to a safe home… which is what I’m here to talk to you about today.”
What is on her priority list at Shelter in the coming months? While ramping up to 90,000 social homes a year is the “ultimate prize”, she says, in the short term the aim is supporting those who are homeless today.
Discrimination is also high on her agenda: “We’ve got to look at how we kind of strip discrimination out of not just a broken housing system, but a biased housing system.”
Here, she is wasting no time. As we part, she heads off to meet race equality thinktank The Runnymede Trust, Shelter badge firmly attached to her lapel.
