| Founded | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Focus | Delivering services to and campaigning for change on behalf of single homeless people in the UK. |
| Motto | Homelessness ends here |
| Website | crisis.org.uk |
Crisis [1] is is the UK national charity for single homeless people. The charity offers year-round education, employment, housing and well-being services from centres in London, Newcastle, Oxford, Edinburgh and Merseyside, called Crisis Skylight Centres[2].
As well as year-round services Crisis runs Crisis at Christmas, which since 1972[3] has been offering food, warmth, companionship and vital services to homeless people over the Christmas period. In 2010 almost 3,000[4] homeless people visited Crisis at Christmas, which was run by about 8,000 volunteers.
Since its inception Crisis has been a campaigning organisation[5], lobbying government for political change that prevents and mitigates[6] homelessness based on research commissioned and undertaken by the organisation[7].
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Crisis was founded in 1967[8] in response to the Ken Loach film Cathy Come Home shown the previous year, and a publicity campaign led by reforming Conservatives William Shearman[9] and Ian Macleod highlighting the plight of homeless people.
Since the sixties Crisis has evolved to meet the changing needs of single homeless people, campaigning for change and delivering services to help people find a route out of their homelessness across the UK.
Crisis Skylight Centres are accredited education, training and employment centres, offering practical and creative workshops in supportive and inspiring environments, together with formal learning opportunities that lead to qualifications and finding work[10].
Crisis Skylight London opened in 2002[11], with a Crisis Skylight Cafe social enterprise opening on the same site on Commercial Street in East London in 2004. In 2007 Crisis Skylight Newcastle opened its doors[12], followed by Crisis Skylight Birmingham and Crisis Skylight Edinburgh in 2010 and Crisis Skylight Oxford[13] and Crisis Skylight Merseyside[14] in 2011.
Since 1972 Crisis at Christmas has been offering food, warmth, companionship and services to homeless people in London over the Christmas period. The project is run almost entirely by around 8,000 volunteers, making it the largest volunteer-led event in the UK[15]. In 2010 saw about 3,000 homeless people come through the doors. All buildings used as Crisis at Christmas Centres are temporarily donated.
Services offered to homeless people at Christmas include healthcare, opticians, podiatry, dentistry, natural healing and hairdressing.[16]
In 2011, Crisis published a report which found that local councils were not helping young single homeless people to find housing. It stated that 39% of people interviewed had resorted to squatting.[17]