Crisis

“It became my shelter, my refuge.” Francois was in and out of homelessness for much of a decade, often having to sleep rough on the streets of Camden. He found warmth and refuge at the St. Pancras station piano, where he taught himself to play through cold nights. Francois came to one of our Christmas services when he had nowhere else to turn. It was at Crisis at Christmas where Francois met Alex, one of our volunteers. Alex encouraged his love of music – and years later, walking through the station, heard Francois playing again. This time, Francois was no longer homeless. “What Alex embodied for me was a spirit of support, authenticity, and kindness. I think Crisis is doing a beautiful job at recruiting people who genuinely care.” Today, Francois is studying, running his own business, living in a safe, secure home and working on an EP (under his stage name, Keba). The music in the video is his original piece, “Old Heavens”. Thanks to @barbicancentre , @cityoflondoncorp and @stpancrasinternational . This Christmas, give someone like Francois the first day of a life out of homelessness. Tap the link in our bio now.

When training for the Hackney Half Marathon got tough, Silvester remembers why he started. He’s running for others like him, after Crisis helped him set up his business, @TrimlineBarbers , so he could leave homelessness behind for good. We’d like to wish Silvester, and all the other Team Crisis runners at @HackneyMoves , the best of luck for Sunday! If you’d like to join #TeamCrisis, check out our upcoming events via the link in our bio. Alternatively, help Silvester reach his goal and donate via his profile, @TrimlineBarbers .

Hope is everywhere – it’s around every corner, it’s outside our doors. It’s there in every one of us that believes in a safe, stable home for all. It’s what brings us together. To mark @1mactsofhope 's week of action, we asked a few of our frontline staff what hope means to them... What does it mean to you? Let us know in a comment 👇

“There's more of us that want to see love and kindness than those of us that want to stir up hate.” We couldn’t agree more with these powerful words from former Crisis member Jasmine. Jasmine, who now runs her own business @kinandcloth , brings hope to her community through sewing and product-making workshops. To celebrate A Million Acts of Hope’s (@1mactsofhope ) week of action this week, we invited her to run an arts workshop at our London Skylight with some of our current members – all centred around the theme of hope. Take a look at what happened… ❤️

Hope is everywhere. It’s right outside our doors. It’s what brings us together. This week, Crisis shops are taking part in A Million Acts of Hope – a UK-wide celebration of the people making their communities kinder, stronger and more hopeful every day. Across the week, we’ll be sharing messages of hope from our volunteers, shoppers, donors and supporters, and celebrating the acts of hope we see in our shops & local communities on a daily basis. From every donated bag to every hour volunteered, hope is there in the people helping us work towards our mission of ending homelessness. We want to hear about what hope means to you, too 🫵 Tag someone who deserves recognition for an act of hope, or share what’s giving you hope right now and follow @1mactsofhope for more information 💚 One week. A million acts of hope. #MillionActsofHope #HopeHappensHere

Congratulations to all the MSPs and MSs in Scotland and Wales who were elected last week. We're excited to work with them on ending homelessness in Scotland and Wales. And a big thank you goes to all of our campaigners and experts by experience who spoke directly with candidates to encourage them to make ending homelessness a priority. We'll continue to make your voices heard and seek impactful change. Follow @CrisisScotland and @Crisis_Cymru as we continue to campaign to end homelessness across Great Britain.

There’s power in hope. That’s the message of this original piece by poet and Crisis volunteer Nathaniel aka @the_philosophers_poet . Next week marks the start of A Million Acts of Hope (@1mactsofhope ). We’re joining hundreds of charities, community, and faith groups to celebrate the week that hope built – showing that our communities are brighter and better when we pull together, not apart. Get involved and plan a hopeful act of your own - tap the link in our bio.

We’re proud to now be stocking More Than One Story – a bold anthology of raw, urgent, brilliantly written monologues from 37 writers with lived experience of homelessness and poverty in the UK, curated by @cardboardcitz . From sofa surfing to street sleeping, identity to mental health – these monologues hold resilience, rage, humour and hope in equal measure. Created to challenge who gets to be heard in the creative industries (where fewer than 1 in 10 come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds), the collection makes space for voices too often overlooked.
 And when you buy it from us, it goes further: 100% of profits support Crisis’ work helping people out of homelessness for good.
 📖 Read it. ➡️ Share it. 🫶 Be part of the story. 
Link in @shopfromcrisis bio

Ahead of the London Marathon, our brilliant partner @zoopla were busy doing something very special to support runner and Zoopla colleague Pedro Lima – the team completed a virtual challenge from John O’Groats to Land’s End. Across March, 59 Zoopla staff ran or walked a grand total of 1,353 kilometres – the entire length of the United Kingdom! Thank you to the incredible Pedro and his amazing colleagues for collectively raising £2,715 to help end homelessness. We salute you! 🫶

We’re voting to end homelessness at the ballot box tomorrow. Will you join us? With the right political action, homelessness can be ended, and that’s why the elections in Scotland and Wales matter. In the UK, homelessness is a devolved issue. That means decisions about housing and homelessness aren’t made by Westminster alone. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland they’re made by the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Follow @CrisisScotland to join us as we work to end homelessness in Scotland.

330,000 step challenge COMPLETE ✅👣🐾 Last week, 185 fundraisers completed their challenge of walking 330,000 steps in April. It took our steppers a whole month to complete the challenge. They took their steps at home. On the way to work. At the park. At the gym. On their own. Or with friends, family, and even their favourite furry companions. Every step represented a real person or family experiencing homelessness. That's a lot... But our steppers proved that by breaking down a challenge into smaller, manageable steps, they could reach their goal. And by taking smaller, manageable steps, one day, we will end homelessness for good. Thank you to our steppers for raising over £15,000 and counting! You are superstars⭐ Here are some pictures from our supporters - scroll to the end to see a very cute picture of Ringo the dog!

Rent privately? Listen up 📣 The Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May, changing the rights of private renters across England. The rules around evictions for unpaid rent have changed, giving renters stronger protections. If you’re struggling with rent, here are three key things to know under the new rules from @mhclg : 1️⃣ If you have less than three months’ unpaid rent, your landlord can only evict you if a judge decides it is reasonable 2️⃣ If you have more than three months’ unpaid rent, your landlord can evict you and a court must order you to leave 3️⃣ You must be given four weeks’ notice before eviction, and you only have to leave your home once the court process has ended For more guidance on what to do if you’re behind on rent, see our renters’ guide, produced with the TDS Charitable Foundation (@tenancydeposits ) - tap the link in bio now.