Supporting the homeless at Christmas

This Christmas, 250 rough sleepers will have places with Crisis thanks to support from L&Q. The L&Q Foundation has donated £6,520 to reserve 250 places with Crisis for people who are living on the streets.

The number of homeless people in Britain hit 307,000 this year; around 3,000 of these will be sleeping rough on the streets of London, battling the cold and damp and living with the constant fear of violence and hunger.

Life expectancy for people living on the streets is 47 years for a man and 43 years for a woman.

The funding means Crisis can provide a safe and warm place for homeless people to stay with: nine days of hot nutritious dinners; advice on housing, benefits, finances, employment and legal matters; healthcare, dental treatment and eye tests; hairdressing and massage treatments; and learning and skills opportunities, internet cafes and IT workshops.

They will also have access to year-round Crisis services for training and support in the year ahead.

David Montague, Chief Executive of L&Q said: “Many of us are just one pay day away from our lives spiralling out of control and potentially losing or homes. These people have had an unfortunate turns of events and a lack of support. Everyone deserves a fresh start in life and we must continue to do all we can to support this, which is why L&Q has a long history of supporting Crisis and providing many other homelessness interventions.”

In addition to supporting homeless people at Christmas, L&Q Living has 600 supported housing bed-spaces across London specifically for homeless people. It also provides around 400 properties for the Rough Sleepers Initiative and has invested in homeless assessment centres in Lambeth and Greenwich and in a partnership with Broadway (now part of St Mungo’s) to provide former homeless people with a place to live.

To find out more about how to support homeless people this Christmas and all year round, visit: https://www.crisis.org.uk/