Shelter’s chief executive Sarah Elliott has announced she will exit the top job after one year (picture: Shelter)

The decision comes just over a year after she succeeded longstanding leader Polly Neate, now Baroness Neate.

“I’ve often said that organisations need different leaders for different times and I’m proud to have led Shelter through a transition year of important wins in the fight for home,” Ms Elliott wrote on LinkedIn.

“However, I have concluded that the role ahead needs a different set of strengths to what I bring, and it’s right to step aside now rather than later.”

Ms Elliott said her focus had been on “laying the foundations for Shelter to remain in a strong position to lead the fight for home” as the charity looks to its next strategy.

“With homelessness at the top of the political agenda and more collaboration across the sector than ever before, I leave with real confidence in the Shelter team and our partners,” she added.

Shelter’s work this year under Ms Elliott’s leadership has included highlighting the negative effects of insecure temporary accommodation on children’s well-being and their educational and life prospects.

In January, its Homelessness in the Classroom report found that one in 78 schoolchildren in England is homeless in temporary accommodation.

The same month, Ms Elliott told Inside Housing it was important to celebrate such “once-in-a-career” wins as the Renters’ Rights Act passing into law, but noted that “all the numbers are still going in the wrong direction” on homelessness.

She acknowledged the charity may need to adopt new tactics, including a “convening” role to get different parts of the housing sector talking. “I think we’re very pragmatic, and I think our role will need to evolve,” Ms Elliott said at the time.

Prior to leading Shelter, Ms Elliott spent almost six years at charity umbrella body the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the majority of it as interim and full-time chief executive.

She said in her post she had “exciting plans” for the future, but it had been a “true privilege... to work alongside the communities most affected by the housing emergency, our partners and supporters”.

“My biggest thanks go to my Shelter exec team colleagues, the board of trustees and particularly my chair Helen MacNamara who has given me so much support and encouragement,” Ms Elliott wrote.

Responding to the news of Ms Elliott’s departure, Ms MacNamara said: “Sarah made a valuable contribution during her time at Shelter and she leaves with the board’s thanks and best wishes.”

Mairi MacRae, the director of campaigns, policy and communications, and Andy Harris, director of income generation, were jointly stepping up while recruitment for a new chief executive was underway, she added.

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Shelter chief executive to leave in October after one year in job