Landlords fund-raising for the homeless

Landlords fund-raising for the homeless

13:47 PM, 29th November 2017, About 6 years ago 98

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We are interested in setting up a charity or alternatively setting up a crowdfunding page, to help the homeless. The idea is that private landlords, who already play a massive and critical role in housing in the UK – housing around 5 million households, including many who would otherwise be homeless – add to our role by making a further contribution to alleviate homelessness and the misery it causes.

Our main emphasis will be in helping to get roofs over people’s heads. We will stand apart from organisations like Shelter which provide no housing. This means that landlords who want to contribute in this way will have the opportunity of really helping.

I have started this thread with the aim of encouraging any ideas, offers of help and so on and we can see what interest there is in this and then take it further.

We can then also see, for example, what role the main landlord organisations may like to take – especially in encouraging their membership to donate, for example.

But we must get it right. It has to be concrete, practical help and we will all offer our time for free and stand to gain nothing from it personally.

Thoughts below please.


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Comments

Tim Jones

21:27 PM, 22nd December 2017, About 6 years ago

My wife and I have recently started a house like Roberts but for young homeless mothers in Somerset . We could not find a landlord to rent to us so we ended up buying a 5 bed HMO privately and then renting it to a charity we were already trustees on (we couldn't face starting another charity). We have a similar model to Robert with a commercial 10 year lease set at a rent a fair bit below market rate, but it covers the interest only mortgage and some.
Totally agree with Robert, support workers are crucial. We have SW working 4h a day on weekdays and managed to get a grant to cover the costs of this.
The susesss of our project has now lead us to look into another house In Wiltshire, but are looking at renting this. We are Also looking for a property to buy personally in Oxford for homeless young men.
I'm happy to share the model with anyone who has a heart for helping the homeless under a charity model. This has been a 10 year process for us having foster children for years and then having teenage mothers living with us for 6 years. We have loved the journey of doing this but It's not for the faint hearted as I'm sure a lot of you know vulnerable people can be very challenging to work with .

Robert M

21:53 PM, 22nd December 2017, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Tim Jones at 22/12/2017 - 21:27
Hi Tim

What you are doing sounds great, but may I suggest that you keep the properties in the same area as that makes managing them so much easier. The professional links, e.g. the homelessness agencies that refer tenants to you will tend to work in a geographical area, so once you have the links then stick with that area.

It is great that you have received a grant for your Support Workers, but have you got a funding strategy for when the grant runs out?

It would be great to have a chat with you to compare notes, tips, advice, experiences, etc, as it definitely sounds like our projects have some things in common.

Tim Jones

21:01 PM, 5th January 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Robert Mellors at 22/12/2017 - 21:53
Hi Robert You make a good point about the grants running out , however (and I could be wrong) we have found grants fairly easy so we see that as a way forward in the long term.

Your advice about staying within areas is valid however we have a specific reason for the Oxford house (which was agreed in the new year- so now the hard work starts). The good thing about trying to apply the model in different areas should help to prove it's possible and get models that work across areas nationally with out lots of hassle - it's hassle enough looking after vulnerable people with out the problems the local authority can bring.

Robert it would be good to chat about your project and ours, what is the best contact details for you?

Robert M

11:53 AM, 11th January 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Tim Jones at 05/01/2018 - 21:01
Hi Tim

Best contact details for me would be my email address: robert.mellors@hotmail.co.uk (the posting of this has already been authorised earlier within this thread).

If you email me, I can then send you my tel number so we can have a chat.

Robert M

12:13 PM, 11th January 2018, About 6 years ago

Hi Ros

I just wondered how you were getting on with the setting up of the proposed charity? Is this still proceeding?

I spoke to a charity accountant just after Christmas and asked about what's involved with setting up a charity, (a Charitable Incorporated Organisation), and it all seems fairly straightforward as model documents can be used and there are companies (such as the accountant) that can do most of the admin associated with this.
The main issue I think would be getting together a suitable board of trustees (at least 3 trustees are needed) in order to even start the process of setting up a charity, but it may be that some Property118 members would be happy to put themselves forward to do this?

Dr Rosalind Beck

15:34 PM, 11th January 2018, About 6 years ago

Hi Robert. Yes things are going on behind the scenes. A small group of us are liaising with a homelessness charity with a view to setting up a fundraising partnership. We have taken this approach rather than set up a separate charity. The aim is to support a charity which is hands-on with a positive attitude towards landlords. The negotiations are likely to take a while but hopefully will be worth the wait.

KD South East

18:39 PM, 11th January 2018, About 6 years ago

In the meantime I know that there are various groups taking direct action (usually on a shoestring) to provide a roof over homeless people’s heads - this one is a bus in Brighton. And there are others in Portsmouth and probably elsewhere round the country. Please donate if you can.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/busshelter

Sue Bird

19:09 PM, 11th January 2018, About 6 years ago

Hi Ros, I'd be happy to be involved with the setting up of the partnership, although am based outside the UK in Brussels, Belgium. BTW, I find this blog a very un-user-friendly way of communicating and would appreciate eg by email...... Thanks. Do let me know how things progress

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