How ProxyAddress is Turning Address Data into Social Impact

By Geovation

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29th September 2026

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Christopher Hildrey is an architect, designer and the founder of ProxyAddress. Having previously participated in the Geovation Accelerator Programme – an Ordnance Survey (OS) initiative in association with HM Land Registry (HMLR) – he continues to be an active member of the Geovation ecosystem. His work sits at the intersection of design, innovation, and social impact, applying creative problem-solving to complex societal challenges.

The idea for ProxyAddress emerged through research into homelessness and a recognition that many systems unintentionally exclude people once they lose a permanent address. Rather than accepting that challenge as inevitable, Christopher set out to redesign the system itself. The result is an example of how innovative thinking can use trusted national location infrastructure, including OS data, in new ways to improve lives.

The most powerful innovations often come from seeing familiar infrastructure differently. Address data is one of the foundations of society that we tend to take for granted. Yet because it underpins so much of everyday life, we’ve only just begun to explore its potential. As we continue that journey, we need to remember to ask not only how high we can raise the ceiling of what’s possible, but how far we can lift the floor for those who depend on it.

Christopher Hildrey – Founder

The Challenge

For most people, an address is simply where they live.

Yet over time it has quietly become much more than that. Today, an address is used to access employment, banking, healthcare, benefits, education and countless public services. It has, in effect, become a de facto form of identification.

For someone facing homelessness, that creates an unexpected and often insurmountable barrier: when you lose your home, you lose an address and, with it, access to the very support needed to recover. What might otherwise have been a temporary crisis risks becoming a slide into long-term homelessness simply because so many organisations are built on the assumption that everyone has a permanent address.

ProxyAddress was created to break that cycle.

It does so by rethinking how trusted address data can be used, enabling people to regain access to essential services without requiring those services to redesign their existing processes. Rather than asking every organisation to replace its lock, ProxyAddress creates a key that works with the doors society has already built.

The Solution

Founded by architect and social innovator Christopher Hildrey, ProxyAddress provides stable address details to people experiencing homelessness or housing instability. The concept is simple but powerful: instead of linking support to a person’s current location, it links support to the person themselves. Using a consistent address that is independent of location and free of stigma, the credentials can remain valid even when living situations change.

Working with local authorities and partner organisations, ProxyAddress allocates secure proxy addresses sourced from suitable properties and address datasets. These addresses can then be used to access services such as:

Banking and financial services
Benefits and public services
Healthcare support
Education and libraries
Employment opportunities
Postal communications

The result is a practical intervention that removes a major administrative barrier and helps people focus on rebuilding stability in their lives.

The approach has already been tested under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulatory Sandbox, demonstrating Proxy Address’ compliance within some of the UK’s most demanding regulatory environments.

The Role of Location Data

Location data sits quietly behind many of the services we rely on every day, and at the heart of the ProxyAddress model.

While ProxyAddress is ultimately a social impact solution, the service depends on accurate address and property information to operate effectively. In previous discussions, Christopher Hildrey explained that not all addresses can be treated equally. Different properties carry different risks, assumptions and practical considerations. To ensure addresses are suitable, secure and reliable, ProxyAddress uses property-level information through UPRNs, geospatial datasets and address datasets from OS to help assess and select appropriate locations with confidence.

This illustrates a broader point about the value of location data. Address information is often viewed as basic infrastructure, but when services like this apply address data in new ways, it shows how it can enable entirely new approaches to solving social challenges. When location data is accurate, trusted and accessible on a national scale, it becomes the foundation for innovation.

For ProxyAddress, address data is not simply a reference point on a map – it is a gateway to opportunity.

Impacts & Outcomes

The impact of ProxyAddress is measured not only through system improvements but through individual lives.

The service has helped people access employment, open bank accounts, reconnect with public services and regain independence. In its first pilot, over 90% of participants were shown to have escaped homelessness within 6 months. Individuals used their ProxyAddress to secure jobs, gain access to essential services, and even move from entrenched homelessness into stable housing and long-term recovery. Case studies include Emma (not her real name), a survivor of domestic abuse who found herself having to decide between being excluded from the system or returning to her abuser. ProxyAddress was able to help her regain her independence with the confidence that she could engage with support without disclosing her location.

Another is Gary, a rough sleeper who had recently moved into a hostel. After being signposted to ProxyAddress, he was able to use it to access computer literacy classes, type up a CV, open a bank account, and apply for jobs. A few months later, he not only had a job but had also been promoted and lived in a flat in north-east London.

“Homelessness does not imply anything about the person caught in it. It is a symptom shared by as varied a set of journeys as the people involved.” Chris Hildrey – Founder

The solution has also received significant national and international recognition. ProxyAddress has been named among TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions and has received awards for innovation, humanitarian impact and design excellence.

These achievements highlight how innovative thinking, combined with practical implementation, can create meaningful change for vulnerable communities.

Why This Matters

ProxyAddress demonstrates that location data is about far more than maps.

When combined with innovative thinking, trusted address data can help tackle some of society’s most pressing challenges. By reimagining how address information can be used, ProxyAddress is helping people access support, reduce barriers and rebuild stability during difficult periods in their lives.

For Geovation, it is exactly the type of innovation worth celebrating. Christopher was supported through the Geovation Accelerator Programme, an OS initiative in association with HMLR, where access to expertise, funding and data-focused support helped develop an idea that is now creating measurable social impact.

And while location data often works quietly in the background, solutions like ProxyAddress show just how powerful that foundation can be.

Enabling Prevention

ProxyAddress demonstrates how trusted address data can help people maintain independence by removing one of the most common barriers to accessing support.

By opening access to employment, healthcare, financial services and local authority support, ProxyAddress helps people stabilise their circumstances earlier – before temporary setbacks become long-term homelessness. In doing so, it has the potential to strengthen homelessness prevention, increase independence and reduce reliance on costly interventions such as prolonged stays in temporary accommodation. Based on research by the National Housing Federation and the costs involved in homelessness relief, ProxyAddress’ first pilot alone created £2.13 million of savings to the public purse.

Rather than creating a new public service, it increases the effectiveness of the services that already exist. It is an example of how national address infrastructure can be applied in a new way to help government deliver better outcomes across housing, health, employment and public services.

Looking Ahead

ProxyAddress continues to develop its technology and expand partnerships with local authorities and support organisations. The long-term opportunity is significant: creating a scalable approach where innovation does not always require new infrastructure and shows that sometimes the greatest impact comes from using existing data differently. By rethinking the role of address information, ProxyAddress shows how authoritative location data can help remove barriers, strengthen public services and improve lives.

Learn more: To learn more about ProxyAddress and its work tackling homelessness through innovative use of address data, visit https://www.proxyaddress.org.

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