Publication Date: 15-03-2023 09:00
Bellway donates £34,000 to national charity which helps homeless people
Bellway has donated £34,000 to help support Greater Change, a national charity which supports homeless people by providing financial support.
The funds donated by the housebuilder, which is based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, have allowed the charity to help 21 people in the North East and throughout the UK.
Greater Change is a non-profit organisation which works directly with homeless people and their supporting charities to provide a one-off financial assistance to help them make positive changes in their lives. The funds are tailored to their clients’ needs and can be used for rent deposits, to pay utility bills, to buy driving licences or to provide items such as mattresses and bikes.
The Bellway donation has allowed the charity to expand its reach to support six homeless people in Durham through HumanKind, one person in Newcastle via The People’s Kitchen and three people in Hull through Emmaus.
The money has also helped Greater Change support three homeless people in Basingstoke through Julian House, three people in Milton Keynes via Winter Night Shelter, two clients in Cambridge through Cambridge Cyrenians, two people in Coventry and Warwickshire via Crisis Skylight and one person in Kent through Porchlight.
One of the people helped by Greater Change and Emmaus in Hull is a client who was given £800 to cover a deposit and first month’s rent on secure housing. He found himself homeless when he returned to the UK after working abroad.
He said: “Homelessness does not discriminate. It can happen to anyone. I returned to the UK very disheartened but have been overwhelmed by the kindness of people and some of the opportunities I have been given.
“I want to work and I am capable of contributing to society in a positive way. I have felt bereft at times and had thoughts of suicide, but the hope of finding my own place to live has allowed me to see light at the end of the tunnel.”
Greater Change also helped a client in the Midlands, by providing the finances to allow him to buy a cooker and other white goods, to help him have quality time with his child. He had been sleeping rough for years after his family life broke down but is now in temporary accommodation.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “He has completed an alcohol detox programme, paid off rent arrears in a former property and has an amicable relationship with his wife and sees his child every weekend. He wants to make his flat into an environment that his child will feel happy staying in during the times she visits.”
Greater Change, which is based in Oxford, has just passed the milestone of having helped 650 homeless people in the UK.
Through its own research, the organisation has found that, with support from Greater Change and its charity partners, more than 85 per cent of clients they help will sustain their move out of homelessness and over half will find a job. The internal statistics also showed that of the 76 ex-offenders it helped last year, only one per cent re-offended compared to the usual re-offending rate of more than 50 per cent.
Jonathan Tan, CEO at Greater Change, said: “We are a social enterprise providing access to financial planning support and a flexible micro-grant to help people experiencing homelessness take large steps out of homelessness. Our work is deeply rooted in respecting individual dignity and aspirations and we work closely with partner support work teams to avoid duplicating their existing expertise and experience.
“We are so grateful for the support that Bellway has given us over the last 12 months. It’s a partnership that has allowed us to expand the scale and scope of people we support across more parts of the UK.
“We are passionate about providing people with a dignified pathway out of homelessness for good and we are glad to have a partner like Bellway, who shares that passion. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the Bellway team to do a lot more good for a lot more people in need.”
Lorna Edwards, Bellway’s Deputy Company Secretary, said: “We feel privileged to be able to provide this donation to help support Greater Change and the fantastic and vital work that it does. Bellway is proud of its record as a socially responsible company that not only builds houses but also makes a positive impact within the local communities in which it builds.
“This is our second year supporting the charity, and we will be staying in close touch to see how we can continue to help and support them in the future. It is wonderful that we can help empower homeless people to improve their lives, fulfilling their goals and aspirations by providing them with flexible funding through Greater Change.”
For more information about Greater Change visit https://www.greaterchange.co.uk/.
Information about Bellway can be found at https://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes.
