LandAid asks you to SleepOut to end youth homelessness in Birmingham this March

LandAid, the property industry charity, is calling on 1,000 property professionals across the country to brave one night outside and SleepOut on Thursday 10 March, to raise over £500,000 and help prevent young people having to do the same, every night.

This year, the LandAid SleepOut is back and bigger than ever, when people can choose to SleepOut At Home on 10 March or join us in one of six different locations, including Birmingham, London, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds and Cambridge.

Each participant will be asked to raise over £166 – the cost of funding a bed space for a month. Every penny raised will take LandAid one step closer towards its mission of ending youth homelessness, for good.

The Birmingham SleepOut will take place at the Mailbox – Q Park. Register for the LandAid SleepOut here.

Wide support has already been shown across the industry for the LandAid SleepOut 2022 from headline sponsor, Knight Frank, alongside regional sponsors; Prologis in Birmingham, TFT in Bristol and Henry Boot Developments in Leeds.

Each region will help fund a local project that will make a huge difference to the community. Birmingham will help fund St Basils Live and Work Village 2 scheme,

The current Live and Work Village – Phase 1, provides accommodation for young workers for under £43 per week, inclusive of all bills. This scheme is open to 16 to 24 year olds in the West Midlands who are employed – and is particularly ideal for apprentices and those on a low income. The scheme is totally Benefit Free, which means that young people get the opportunity to Live and Work without having to rely on welfare benefits. The accommodation, home to 32 young people, comprises 8 flats.

Each flat has 4 bedrooms, with shared kitchen, dining, and bathroom facilities. Progression Coaches offer a bespoke onsite service to the young people living here from Monday to Friday, as well as an additional on-call service should a young person need out of hours support.

Since opening in 2015, this scheme has won numerous awards, including two for NHS partnership work and one for ‘Excellence in Education’, as well as the 2018 National Housing Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to tackling Homelessness’  and National Housing Award in 2020 for ‘Homelessness Partnership of the Year’.

For those taking part in the SleepOut At Home, there will be a livestream for all participants to join, featuring speeches from property professionals, the headline and regional sponsors, and young people who have experienced homelessness.

This is the fourth LandAid SleepOut. Last year, LandAid’s first ever fully virtual SleepOut saw 608 property professionals braving the rain and cold overnight outside to raise over £400,000. With support from headline sponsors including Knight Frank, Fiera Real Estate, Prologis and TFTparticipants were joined via livestream by sleep physiologist Steph Romiszewski and survival instructor John Hudson, who were able to prepare sleepers for the night ahead.

Sadly, the pandemic has only enhanced the need for support for young people at risk of homelessness. The last year has seen over 120,000 young people across the UK approach their local council for housing support. You can create more safe and secure homes for those that have nowhere else to turn. Help make the 2022 LandAid SleepOut the biggest yet!

Paul Morrish, Chief Executive of LandAid, said: “I am delighted that we are taking the LandAid SleepOut to six different locations across the UK as well as virtually, giving everyone the opportunity to brave one cold night outside to end youth homelessness. The last 22 months have been difficult for us all, but in particular young homeless people, who may not even have a roof over their heads. Last year’s virtual SleepOut provided a truly impactful opportunity to raise money to help vulnerable young people across the UK. This year, I hope that even more property professionals from across the country will be sleeping out for one night with all of us to make changes to young people’s lives which will last a lifetime.”

Paul Weston, Regional Head of Prologis, said: “Prologis has been a longstanding supporter of LandAid and we’re delighted to sponsor this year’s Birmingham Sleepout to raise awareness of youth homelessness. The pandemic has placed many more homeless young people at risk and we’re delighted to be supporting this worthwhile initiative. Our team took part in the first ever Birmingham Sleepout in 2020 and we’re looking forward to being able to SleepOut together again in 2022.”