SHELTER is appealing for help to fund its free helpline after seeing a surge in demand from the North East, which it says is a sign of a deepening housing crisis.
In the last year alone the housing and homelessness charity received more than 7,000 calls from the region.
Calls to the line have increased by nine per cent in 12 months and nearly one in six North East callers were homeless or within 28 days of losing their home.
Analysis by the charity reveals that 120 children in the North East will wake up homeless on Christmas morning and that is why its calling on the public to buy food from M&S’s Food On The Move festive range as five per cent of every sale will be donated to the helpline.
Nadeem Khan, a helpline adviser for Shelter, said: “Our team of expert advisers work 365 days a year to make sure that no-one has to fight bad housing or homelessness on their own. If it wasn’t for the money raised by M&S customers, thousands of calls for help from people in the North East would go unanswered.”
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