Housing

“The hardest conversation was with a father who had accepted his son being an addict on the streets. He was volunteering in the hope of seeing his son in the centre. He did see him, they shared a meal together and spent some time talking.”

Hundreds of turkey crowns, buckets of cranberry sauce, bacon sarnies, football tournaments, haircuts, eye tests, showers, tellies and a warm, dry bed for a night or two: how the homelessness charity is helping thousands of rough sleepers this festive season.

Can a new wave of housing lottery schemes make the fantasy of owning a home a reality?

As we celebrate the centenary of social housing, rights campaigner Vicky Spratt takes an investigative look at the UK's relentless housing crisis.