Lloyds Banking : Crisis and Simon Community Northern Ireland call for immediate action for more

Today, on World Homeless Day, nearly a quarter of a million households (242,000) across England are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness, including sleeping on the streets, spending nights on friends and families' sofas or in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

Lloyds Banking Group and Crisis are calling out the urgent need for more genuinely affordable homes to be made available to those on the lowest incomes, with a focus on supporting people at risk of, and experiencing homelessness.

Access to decent quality homes is a fundamental part of solving homelessness. Good quality social housing in the UK is becoming increasingly scarce, with not enough homes being built to replace those that are sold or demolished, and too many homes in disrepair and in poor condition. With a severe shortage of good, genuinely affordable homes, millions of people across the UK are trapped in poor quality housing because the only realistic alternative is even worse: homelessness.

Charlie Nunn, Chief Executive at Lloyds Banking Group, said: "The lack of genuinely affordable housing in our communities means that too many people are living in insecure or poor-quality conditions. Temporary accommodation should be a short-term measure but is increasingly becoming the default solution. We have partnered Crisis in calling for one million more homes for social rent by 2033 and, this World Homeless Day, want to continue working with leaders across the housing sector, UK cities and regions in order to help everyone access a safe and lasting home."

Tackling the housing gap

Lloyds Banking Group continues to support housing associations, working closely with them to innovate and support new models of social housing (including the need for retrofit and sustainability of new builds). Since 2018, the bank has provided around £16bn of funding to housing associations across England, Scotland and Wales to help build more homes and retrofit existing homes as well as provide support for people seeking short term support, whilst looking for permanent homes.

Fundraising for homelessness

As part of the partnership with Crisis, Lloyds Banking Group is encouraging colleagues to spend an hour of their day on World Homeless Day to join sessions to hear more about homelessness in the UK, how we can better support people and the solutions needed to bring homelessness numbers down. Since the partnership launched in April 2023, the Group has been busy fundraising for Crisis, with activities including trekking the Lava Fields in Iceland and 1,500 colleagues walking in cities across the UK.

Working together with Crisis and Simon Community NI

Lloyds Banking Group, Crisis and Simon Community NI are calling out the urgent need for more genuinely affordable homes to be made available to those on the lowest incomes, with a focus on supporting people at risk of, and experiencing homelessness, because everyone should have a safe place to call home.

For over 50 years, Crisis' frontline services have been supporting people experiencing homelessness into safe, settled homes, but in recent years, this has become increasingly difficult as soaring rents have priced out those on the lowest incomes. This has left the people Crisis supports trapped in unsuitable temporary accommodation or sleeping in cars, tents or on the streets with little to no option of finding a home of their own.

Matt Downie, Chief Executive at Crisis, said: "Homelessness is on the increase. The numbers of households in temporary accommodation have reached record levels and the number of children growing up in B&Bs in England without a secure home has more than doubled in the space of a year.

"Yet we know how to end homelessness and the most important solution is secure, affordable homes - we urgently need more social homes to be built and made available to those on the lowest incomes. This World Homelessness Day, we're joining forces with our partners, Lloyds Banking Group, to make this urgent call.

"We are also hugely grateful to the whole team at Lloyds Banking Group for getting behind this partnership with so much energy and commitment, raising thousands to support our vital work as we help people across Britain rebuild their lives away from homelessness."

Jim Dennison, Chief Executive at Simon Community Northern Ireland, said: "At Simon Community, we're not just providing temporary accommodation and support services, we are also working hard in local communities to prevent homelessness and providing new housing options to end it.

On this World Homeless Day, we're proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our dedicated partners, Lloyds Banking Group and Crisis, committed to do all we can to provide the safety, security, and stability of a home to those in need. Together, we are driven to end homelessness and make it a chapter in the past."

To arrange a spokesperson or case study interview, please contact the Crisis media team on 020 7426 3880, [e-mail], Simon Community NI media team at [e-mail] or the Lloyds Banking Group media team on [e-mail]