What We Need Are Landowners

In the face of a deepening housing crisis, community projects like ours are working against the tide. We’re not waiting around for top-down solutions. We’re out here converting buses into emergency shelters, handing out warm socks and pot noodles, and sitting alongside people who’ve run out of options.

But time and time again, we run into the same invisible wall: access to land.

At The Bus Shelter Ipswich, we renovated a double-decker bus to provide mobile shelter. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a direct response to the urgent need for safe, temporary spaces. But after Covid changed our ability to do what we do in the way we typically do it, we started thinking about the future; building more secure static temporary housing from converted shipping containers. But we face a question that far too many grassroots projects like ours are forced to ask: where?

Image from BBC: Aiden Feeney who converted double-decker in Coventry

It’s the same question being asked by another brilliant team in this project who, like us, converted a bus to offer warmth and dignity to rough sleepers. Their bus is ready to go, but local red tape and a lack of land access mean it’s sitting idle. Imagine the impact being stalled—not for lack of passion, or proof of concept—but for lack of permission.

It shouldn’t be this hard to help people.

A Landscape of Empty Land

It’s not as if the land isn’t there. In England, only 8.6% of land is developed. That leaves over 90% as green space, farmland, forest, and unfortunately, in too many cases — wasted opportunity.

Meanwhile, over 280,000 people in the UK are experiencing homelessness, and more than 130,000 of them are children. Many of them are hidden from view — sofa surfing, stuck in B&Bs, or moved from one temporary setting to the next with no chance to build roots.

There’s no way to soften this: people are dying in temporary accommodation. And yet, we have habitable spaces on wheels sitting still because there’s nowhere they’re allowed to go.

Who Holds the Keys?

Part of the issue is who owns the land. According to research, less than 1% of the population owns half of England’s land — including aristocrats, corporations, and private institutions. That kind of concentrated ownership puts decisions in the hands of a few, while community groups are left chasing shadows.

Even if we do identify a spot, planning laws and endless forms block the path. It can take months — sometimes years — just to get a yes, and often, we can’t wait that long.

What If It Didn't Have to Be This Way?

Grassroots projects already have the labour, the experience, the drive, the materials. What we need now is access.

We’re calling on landowners — those with unused plots, empty car parks, overgrown corners of farmland, or any space with running water and a connection to the grid — to open your gates and work with us. We don’t need forever. Just a safe place. A power supply. A chance.

Because when we’re given space, we create impact. We've proven that.

We housed people who would otherwise be on the streets. We serve hot drinks, offer dry socks, and help people rebuild from scratch. We respond quickly, efficiently, and with heart.

But we can't do it from the side of the road forever.

What You Can Do

• If you own land, consider partnering with a local shelter like ours. Even short-term agreements can save lives.

• If you know someone who does, start the conversation.

• If you're in a position of influence, challenge the rigidity of local planning systems that keep life-saving projects in limbo.

  
  

It’s time to recognise that the biggest barrier to solving the homelessness crisis might not be money or resources — it might just be permission.

Let’s make it easier to say yes.