Landlords fund-raising for the homeless

Reply to the comment left by Robert Mellors at 30/11/2017 - 10:29
Thanks Robert. That is really useful info.
I wasn't thinking in terms of setting up a charity and heaven knows I don't rush into things. It was more like being able to set up a crowdfunding or justgiving page and being able to say every £100 enables getting someone off the street for a month. (or £3 a day). I have no expertise in these funding systems but as treasurer of a Rotary Club I am most definitely in favour of Gift Aid.
I realise that if we raised £10,000 for you, or a similar organisation, that would not immediately mean 10 less homeless people as these things take time but raising the money would enable us to get it reported even though the effect might be 3 months down the line.

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 30/11/2017 - 14:06
Hi Mark

Setting up a charity providing hostel Support Workers could work. I would gladly receive such services, and that would definitely enable me to provide more supported accommodation for single homeless people who would otherwise be sleeping rough, it would make a huge difference.

However, as my organisation would benefit from the services provided by the charity, I think it would be best if it was someone else that set up the charity so that there can be no perception of a conflict of interest. If anyone wants to take on the task of setting up such a charity, it could help to get hundreds of homeless people off the streets and into a warm safe home. It could also provide Support Workers to other schemes, such as the one that Julie Stace is setting up.

Reply to the comment left by Robert Mellors at 30/11/2017 - 14:19
Very noble of you to make those points Robert, it will be interesting to read what Ros has to say about that idea given that this thread was started by Ros.

Are there any existing charities you know of which provide such services?

Are you aware of any other 'not-for-profit' organisations similar to your own in other parts of the Country?

Question for Ros please; was you original vision to raise funds for existing charities or to literally start with a blank sheet of paper?

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 30/11/2017 - 14:30
Hi Mark

I am not aware of any charities or other organisations that provide support workers specifically to provide the support element within hostels or supported accommodation. There are schemes, usually run by Councils, (and sometimes by other providers), that will provide "floating support" to specific categories of people, within their own homes, usually for a limited period of time, and possibly to deal with a specific issue. For example, there will be organisations that provide welfare rights advice, so they may have a worker that will visit a disabled person in their own home and assist them to claim the disability benefits that they are entitled to. However, this type of service is not provided for enabling homeless people to be housed (with support), it is simply helping people who are already housed but may have other needs.

I am not aware of any other "not for profit" organisations similar to mine. There are "for profit" companies that provide supported housing to, for example, Social Services (these tend to focus on people with severe learning disabilities). There are charities that provide hostels for the homeless, e.g. Salvation Army, but these can and do already receive public and corporate donations, and grants from central and local government (the hostels also tend to be large institutional buildings, so they may not be suitable for some of the more vulnerable homeless). There are some supported housing schemes provided by "Registered Providers of Social Housing" (also known as "registered social landlords", or "registered housing associations"), but again they rely on grant funding from central or local government for building the properties, and Supporting People grant funding for the cost of the support. So, no, I do not know of any other organisation that is set up or operates in a similar way to mine.

Reply to the comment left by Robert Mellors at 30/11/2017 - 15:40
Hi Robert

That make things a bit more challenging then because it means that to build such an organisation means starting with a blank piece of paper and the contents of your mind alone. Then, if and when the organisation is built, the only organisation who can use the resources would be yours, unless you model is cloned at the same time.

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 30/11/2017 - 15:51
It may be that the organisation that Julie Stace has mentioned setting up would also be able to make use of the service?

I have a few questions and ideas I’d like to bounce off you all.

How much is a cheap tent and a sleeping bag these days?

If I found myself on the streets that is what I would want more than anything else. I’d then find a Salvation Army soup kitchen.

How many rough sleepers are there?

Could this be a starting point?

Might a manufacturer do a deal on a bulk order, and possibly even print the charity logo and a slogan on the tents?

Might that embarrass the likes of Government and Shelter?

I’d suggest they are given out in Central London first as that would get the most publicity. Can you imagine them all over the central London parks and the Mediá interest when the authorities try to do something about them?

A few hundred is all it would take, and I’m pretty sure it would cost less than £100 a set.

It’s not a long term solution but it is a starting point.

Thoughts please.

I think crowdfunding here, is being used as a synonym for making a charity donation. I am not sure I see the value in this - I can do this directly and think there is limited additional value to the homeless who need our support, nor political gain of joining together to do this. If it were crowdfunding to raise money to launch a charity. Then I'd be far more interested. It's clear to me that we'd need expertise to launch anything new. I wonder Robert whether you would consider setting up a charity that doesn't include your already established hostels, i.e a parallel venture? Or perhaps whether you might consult on the creation of such an enterprise?

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 30/11/2017 - 09:21As has been suggested by several posters, I believe the best option (at least short term) is to simply raise funds to pass onto one or more already established homeless charities/shelters (as opposed to THE Shelter... 🙂 )
As has been seen, setting up a project to help homeless people is no small undertaking, and those landlords on here who have the necessary knowledge are likely to have their hands full with their own projects.
Property118 or perhaps another organisation, could make a standing commitment by setting up an account into which supporters make regular monthly payments and/or larger one off payments, and of course Property118 with its excellent SEO platform would be a good base from which to advertise and attract new contributions.

I am more than willing to make monthly contributions to the fund and help with any admin related tasks.

Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander at 30/11/2017 - 18:17
Hi Mark

In Sheffield, and I imagine elsewhere, rough sleepers are already given sleeping bags (and the foil lined plastic bags that reflect heat) by various day centres and churches etc. They can buy a tent for a few pounds if they wish to do so, but the problem is finding somewhere safe (and suitable) to pitch it. A tent draws attention to themselves, and as many rough sleepers become the victims of violence, humiliation, abuse, etc, then most would rather not be so obvious. pitching tents may help a few, but is not suitable for the majority of rough sleepers, even as a very temporary measure.

Soup kitchens and other services are available to provide food to the homeless, and as vital as they are, they do not keep the person warm and safe and protected from the weather, only accommodation can do that.

I don't think it would be a good idea for landlords (or Property118) to be associated with handing out sleeping bags or tents, as that publicity could backfire and make landlords be portrayed even worse than the media already portray us. I think it safest not to suggest any possible media headlines if we took started handing out tents, but needless to say they would be very very negative and anti-landlord.