Shelter chief executive Polly Neate is to leave the homelessness charity next March after more than seven years.  

Neate, who was awarded the CBE in 2020 for services to tackling homelessness, has been a driving force in the push for renter reforms.

Often lamenting the “broken” PRS, she clashed with the NRLA last year when the Renters (Reform) Bill was going through Parliament, explaining: “We’re still waiting for reform while self-interested landlords demand unreasonable concessions.”

'Stop landlords'

Neate urged supporters: “Help us stop landlords, MPs and - most urgently - some people who are both, from watering down the Renters (Reform) Bill. Show them we know what they’re up to and we want a bill that gives renters decent rights at last.”

However, she has also found common ground with the landlord lobby and agreed with chief executive Ben Beadle that the PRS was hosting many tenants who would be better off in the social sector.

Neglect

“The growth of the PRS is a symptom of the neglect of the social housing sector and that’s part of the reason why there are a considerable number of tenants in the PRS who really are struggling to afford their rent,” said Neate.

Helen Baker, chair of Shelter’s board of trustees, believes that under Neate’s leadership, Shelter has shifted the public discourse on housing, driving a much fuller understanding of the housing emergency, its causes and solutions, to the top of the political agenda.  

Announcing her resignation, Neate says she is confident the group will continue to “draw public and political attention to the housing emergency, champion the building of more social homes as the only answer to that emergency, and fight to defend the right to a safe home for everyone”.

Neate made headlines for different reasons in 2022 when she fell and broke her ankle badly while abseiling down rocks near Swanage in Dorset, and had to be resued by local RNLI volunteers.

Pic credit: Shelter‍