[Skip to Content]
Listening to the Frontline: Our CEO on What Needs to Change

Listening to the Frontline: Our CEO on What Needs to Change

Listening to the Frontline: Our CEO on What Needs to Change

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

The insights of frontline workers show us what urgently needs to change. Our CEO, Duncan Shrubsole, reflects on what we’re hearing, how we’re turning these insights into action, and why influencing government is vital to ensure everyone has a safe place to call home.

At St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity, our first priority is always helping people directly and through our network of partners – helping people into new accommodation, supporting frontline workers and investing in new solutions, such as around homelessness and mental health.

But we also know that, however good our services and programmes are, we can only reach so many people. If we are to achieve our vision of everyone having a safe place to call home, we need to ensure more is done to tackle the causes and consequences of homelessness. That means talking to policymakers and politicians in central and local government, and sharing the insights and evidence from our work to influence funding, services, laws and more.

Last month, we published our eighth annual Frontline Worker Survey, capturing the views of frontline homelessness sector workers. These are the unsung heroes working day in, day out to engage and support people experiencing homelessness. They have a unique perspective, but one that is not heard enough – our survey seeks to give them a voice. Over 1,300 people from across the UK responded, sharing their views, perspectives and concerns. And it makes sobering reading.

Eighty-five percent told us that demand for their homelessness services had increased over the last 12 months, and 80% said they expected homelessness to get worse. The challenges they highlighted are threefold: a lack of accommodation; services not being available or joined up; and huge pressures on their own wellbeing. They gave us a rich and wise set of views, but one quote in particular jumped out at me…

It’s our responsibility to share these perspectives – firstly with the media; secondly with the homelessness sector, through newsletters and conferences; and thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, with politicians and policymakers.

Most recently, our insights were shared in Parliament during a debate on ending homelessness, following briefings I provided to MPs Liam Conlon and Rachel Blake. Their contributions reflected our ongoing efforts to ensure the voices of frontline workers and those we support are heard by decision-makers at the highest level.

Earlier in the year, I was involved in some work bringing charities, councils and others together to shape recommendations to feed into the Government’s homelessness strategy. Together, we came up with clear recommendations and presented them to the then Homelessness Minister. Since then, things have gone a bit quiet, and the key ministers got themselves into a bit of trouble with their own housing arrangements and had to resign. Now, with a new set of ministers in place, it’s vital they focus and redouble their efforts to help those who lack a home of their own.

So, I headed up to Liverpool and the Labour Party Conference. Conference is like political Glastonbury – councillors, MPs, party activists and people like me from charities and other organisations gather for a few days of debate and discussion. This year, it was particularly good to see many events discussing housing and homelessness – though a recognition of the challenges there are.

The new Secretary of State for Housing, Steve Reed, was clear that as a country we need to “Build, baby, build”. New houses and new towns are vital and much needed, but they will take time. We also need action now to tackle the problems of too many households in temporary accommodation – now over 130,000, a record figure – and how to reduce rough sleeping.

There was clear interest in the issues, and I was able to share our survey findings with MPs and council leaders. But now we now need to see real action. We need a new Homelessness Strategy that is ambitious and bold but also practical. We need action now in the forthcoming Budget on funding, and to look at the level of Local Housing Allowance.

At St Martin’s Charity, we will seek to hold the feet of politicians and civil servants to the fire.

We know we can’t wait, so we are getting on with our programmes to increase access to accommodation and test new ways of helping workers to sustain accommodation and improve their own wellbeing.

Practical action, coupled with longer-term change.

Of course, all of this is only possible with your help – not only your donations, but also your active support. We know homelessness is solvable and change is achievable – and together we can both do more ourselves and influence others.

We’ll keep you updated as our plans progress, but if you ever have a question or want to know more, do drop us a line at info@stmartinscharity.org.uk

News and Views

collapse/expand
  • Brain Injury Guidance

    Brain Injury Guidance

    Leigh Andrews of Change Communication offered specialist advice on brain injuries and homelessness through a digital...
  • End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty have recently spoken with the Frontline Network to discuss their important ongoing survey, seek...
  • Cover the Cost Campaign

    Cover the Cost Campaign

    Jasmine Basran, Senior Policy Officer at Crisis, talks to us about the Cover the Cost Campaign, asking the Government...
  • VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    Over the past year we have given out 3827 grants totaling £1,156,805 through the VRF. Read the latest Impact Report t...
  • Influence from the Frontline

    Influence from the Frontline

    Frontline workers are crucial at giving insight into the viewpoints of the people they work with as well as the chall...
  • The Vagrancy Act

    The Vagrancy Act

    Crisis, along with others including Homeless Link, Cymorth Cymru, Centrepoint, St Mungo’s, Shelter Cymru and the Wall...
  • Influencing local decisions

    Influencing local decisions

    Zoe, Frontline Network Coordinator at Coventry Citizens Advice, talks to us about the Coventry Frontline Network and...
  • The Litigant in Person Network

    The Litigant in Person Network

    Martha de la Roche, Network Development Manager at Litigant in Person Network (LiP Network), tells us about The LiP N...
  • VRF Impact Report

    VRF Impact Report

    Find out what impact VRF had last year and how to get involved in shaping its direction in the coming year.
  • Housing First Scotland

    Housing First Scotland

    Please see here for the first issue of Housing First Connect - a twice-yearly newsletter for Scotland’s new Housing F...
  • Slaying the Dragon

    Slaying the Dragon

    Will Golding, Edinburgh Tutor at Crisis, talks to us about 'Slaying the Dragon'.
  • CPAG - Early Warning System

    CPAG - Early Warning System

    Dan Norris, from CPAG, talks to us about a new Early Warning System to record the impact of benefit changes implement...
  • The Hostile Environment

    The Hostile Environment

    Bethan Lant, a Project lead from Praxis, writes about the creation of a hostile environment for migrants and refugees.
  • Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Sinead Kelleher writes about Wrexham's Crisis Cafe, a multi-agency response to Universal Credit.
  • Frontline Worker Survey

    Frontline Worker Survey

    We are asking frontline workers to participate in a survey, aimed at those working with clients who are experiencing...
  • A map through conflict

    A map through conflict

    A Cyrenians Mediator writes about their innovative Amber Mediation and Support Project, a model of mediation and supp...
  • “A place to call home"

    “A place to call home"

    Hannah Gousy was seconded from Crisis to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to help design policy recommendations to...
  • A London Nightshelter

    A London Nightshelter

    On 7 November we opened our church-based shelters for the winter with more churches signed on then ever before. Glass...
  • 'Step Up' at The Connection

    'Step Up' at The Connection

    Wyn Newman introduces the volunteer programme 'Step Up' that has been developed at The Connection for service users.