Shelter should follow Crisis and directly house homeless people

The homelessness charity Crisis is going to become a landlord for the first time. It says the housing situation in the UK has reached a ‘catastrophic scenario’. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

I was most interested to read your report about the decision made by Crisis to start directly providing accommodation for homeless people (Crisis charity to become a landlord in attempt to rectify ‘catastrophic’ housing in UK, 10 November). Faced with the growing impossibility of securing accommodation via housing associations or local authorities, Crisis sees this as the most direct way of helping. Isn’t it time that Shelter, with its history of supporting other homelessness organisations, arrived at a similar conclusion?

Many people are under the impression that Shelter houses homeless people. Despite having financially supported many frontline housing organisations and related projects during the 1960s and 70s, it pulled back from this role in the 80s. It now works with its 900-plus staff and its £80m income to provide housing advice and to undertake research and campaigning.