M&S Food for Shelter

I don't know if Crisis are any better, but I heard one of their radio appeals today and it seemed to suggest they get people off the streets into accommodation and provide food etc...what you'd expect a proper homeless charity to do. That, we'd have no objection to. At all.

Perhaps a simple letter to M&S letting them know Shelter is not, perhaps, the charity they thought (which I imagine was more along the lines of Crisis as in their radio ad).

Reply to the comment left by loretta wight at 27/11/2017 - 18:09
turnover--mostly from public sector--is £40 million + and they provide no housing

Well said Jamie.
I am one of those landlords who has sold up when my long-term tenant decided to move out.
The apartment wasn't bought by a first time buyer or another landlord. It went to an older couple who had downsized, bought a cottage in the country, and wanted a London pied a terre.
2 more much needed London beds gone from the PRS!
When the time is right, I will also sell up elsewhere, and enjoy 'retirement' without the hassle of using my own money to try to keep roofs over others' heads, even when they don't pay!

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 27/11/2017 - 21:28
It would be better for M&S to support The Salvation Army for they do actually provide shelter and unconditional support where needed.
https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/rough-sleeping-street-homelessness

If everyone on here posted this to Facebook and any other social media they are on, it may make a splash.

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 27/11/2017 - 21:28
If the public believe that Shelter is doing good, then that will suit corporations who want to be perceived as contributing to the community. Especially when it's apparent that Gvmt is influenced by them.
If you believe that the public perception is wrong then you have to find a way to inform them of the facts.
Complaining as landlords will only just elicit the response that "they would say that wouldn't they", and who will support landlord's opinions?

To break that perception by corporations and the electorate, factual statistics about how Shelter (mis)uses money (or eg their Chief Exec abuses his expenses or some other scandal that newspapers can use as an "outrage"), and the effects on PRS housing as a DIRECT result of Shelter's activities would be needed.

Anyone know a supportive journalist / newspaper prepared to take a stance in conflict with general opinion?

Anyone have statistics (and sources) to back up the negative effects of Shelter's activities?

Reply to the comment left by Ian Muir at 28/11/2017 - 11:50
The plain fact that Shelter provides no housing out of a budget of around £50 million (when I last checked) is surely enough? I also have a dossier of lies/inaccuracies/misleading statements they make on their blog. The newspapers are not interested in this subject in the main as Shelter seems to have a hold over the media and also Government for that matter. The only article I have ever seen casting any aspersions about them was after Grenfell when it turned out 2 of their Board members were involved in some way with the Tower.

As for Crisis, they do provide roofs over people's heads so that's a good start. They also currently are taking a 'wait and see' approach to Section 24. They are waiting for thousands of people to be made homeless because of it, and then they may assess it, after all the human misery has resulted, and may then declare themselves against it! (I got this direct from Jon Sparkes, although I may have twiddled the language he used)

Reply to the comment left by Dr Rosalind Beck at 27/11/2017 - 21:28
You missed the whole point, perception is very strong and this thread will win no friends for landlords!

Reply to the comment left by Rob Crawford at 28/11/2017 - 12:25No. You've missed the point. We are not in the business of pussy-footing around people and organisations which constantly slag us off. Why would you want to do that? It doesn't matter that fewer than 1% of landlords are 'rogue.' That doesn't stop these organisations hounding us. Being quiet wouldn't stop them and being noisy can't make it any worse than it already is. A taste of what we're up against is in my article about the Guardian's coverage of landlords and since I wrote it there have been more examples.
https://www.property118.com/guardians-current-onslaught-private-landlords/
Patrick Collinson recently made an appeal on 118 trying to get landlords to be profiled for his report on the Budget - but one of his most recent articles then made the usual derogatory comments about us. He once wrote an article inspired by an email I sent him. He then proceeded to inaccurately report my situation and start the article with a profile of a 'flash Harry' type character and a large photo of the guy in front of his Bentley. They have an ideology and a script and we must tread very carefully with these people who influence public perception about us far more than a few posts here would.

I would add that the Guardian will print any crap from both Shelter and Generation Rent and also from their own correspondents, often riddled with errors as well as being completely biased and we have no recourse when they do this. They regularly print hateful nonsense from Wilson Craw allowing him to promote his campaign to get Sections 21s abolished. He's an idiot with the Guardian as his stage. Abolish Sections 21s and landlords will flee the market even more than they are already doing because of Section 24. This all damages the PRS, damages tenants as well as landlords and exacerbates homelessness. It doesn't matter if you argued that they had their heart in the right place (which I don't actually believe) - it is the result of their destructive interventions which matter.

Perhaps there is an opportunity for Landlords to come together and form a charity to help the homeless? I am sure many of us make our own donations to various causes. Combined and focussed with a clear objective, this could be a powerful response, and help those that need help.