Youth homelessness charity Centrepoint has received a donation of £3m from Julia and Hans Rausing to support homeless young people in Manchester and London.
The donation – the largest single donation the charity has received in its 52-year history – will be used to support the development of Centrepoint’s Independent Living Programme to give young people experiencing homelessness in London and Manchester a home and a job.
The programme seeks to provide vulnerable 18-25 year olds in-or-at-risk of being homeless a home and a job or an apprenticeship.
Centrepoint says it will use the donation to tackle the shortage of quality affordable homes, aiming to only charge a young person approximately one-third of their salary as rent.
This would typically mean a 20-year old young person in Manchester, earning minimum wage (currently £6.56 per hour) would pay around £350 per month to live in a self-contained home, Centrepoint says.
However, the charity says its intention is to work with ethical employers to ensure young people are earning above minimum wage, which would typically mean someone in London earning £18,000 per year would pay around £500 per month to live independently.
‘Incalculable’ benefit
Since its formation, the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust has provided over 1,000 grants totalling more than £290m; the Trust currently gives away some £50m each year to UK charities.
The trust said said: “We are delighted to announce our support for Centrepoint and its Independent Living Programme.
“Centrepoint’s ambition to end youth homelessness for the coming generation is a formidable task, but having seen the impact they have made on the lives of so many already, I have no doubt they will realise their ambition.
“It is an honour to extend our support.”
Sally Orlopp, director of Centrepoint’s Independent Living Programme, said: “The difference this major donation will have on youth-homelessness in London and Greater Manchester is simply incalculable.
“It will go a long way in touching the lives of so many people, and on behalf of Centrepoint I cannot emphasise our gratitude enough for what the Julia and Han Rausing Trust have enabled.”
In 2019, Centrepoint patron The Duke of Cambridge officially opened the charity’s first Independent Living Programme offering, Petterson Haberdashers Apprenticeship House, a residential community for seven young people who are enrolled in apprenticeship programmes in Lewisham.
Since then, the ILP has opened housing in Waltham Forest and has a number of developments in the pipeline.
Image: Hubskyi_Mark/Shutterstock
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