Just six months after launching its partnership with Centrepoint, mydeposits tenants and team have donated over £148,000 to the youth homelessness charity. The donation is made up of more than £142,000 of interest earned on tenants’ deposits and £5,980 raised by staff who participated in Centrepoint’s Sleep Out 2024.
Centrepoint’s annual Sleep Out, which took place in November, is a fundraising challenge that doesn’t replicate what it’s like to sleep rough but gives an idea of the situation a lot of young people find themselves in, while also supporting those who face this as a reality.
A team of volunteers from mydeposits swapped their warm beds and central heating for a night at the Oval Cricket ground to take part in the Sleep Out and support Centrepoint’s mission to end youth homelessness, with mydeposits also one of two silver sponsors at the event.
Following on from his cold night under the stars, Tim Frome, head of government schemes at Total Property, who run mydeposits, said: “Our participation in the Sleep Out and the tenant donation scheme demonstrates mydeposits’ dedication to supporting the communities we serve. The success of our relationship with Centrepoint is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. Although that was not a comfortable night, I’d like to thank those who donated and helped with Centrepoint’s goal of raising £300k from the event.
“We are proud to align our values with Centrepoint’s mission to end youth homelessness, and this event marks the start of an exciting initiative with them. The money will help with the amazing work they do supporting homeless young people into housing.
“Anyone reading this please feel free to contribute. Every little helps, as shown by the fact we’ve raised over £148k for Centrepoint since June this year, with tenants donating their deposit interest at an average of £7.25 per donation!”
Michael Winehouse, Centrepoint’s head of relationship fundraising, added: “No young person should ever have to experience homelessness, but the reality is that almost 136,000 16-24-year-olds were homeless or at risk of facing homelessness last year. At Centrepoint, we want to change this and have set ourselves an ambitious goal of ending youth homelessness by 2037.
“Support and donations from corporate partners like mydeposits mean we can make greater strides towards this goal and ensure the young people we work with have access to the best support available. The mydeposits tenants and team have done an amazing job to raise this amount of money in such a short period time. We can’t thank them enough for this and we’re excited for lots more collaboration in 2025.”
Sleep Out is one of many supporting activities mydeposits has with Centrepoint as the scheme looks to build a long-lasting partnership with the charity. Alongside facilitating the quarterly tenant interest donations and providing educational deposit protection support and guidance, staff have visited Centrepoint’s facility on Berwick Street in London to build their understanding of the charity’s work. This service has recently been refurbished and will be housing 16 young people who need support to get into permanent housing.
The mydeposits team has also supported Centrepoint in bringing the Christmas spirit to life by decorating some of their spaces to make them feel cosy and festive at what can be a lonely time for young people affected by homelessness.
Almost 136,000 young people across the UK approached their local authority for help in 2022-23. That’s one young person becoming homeless every four minutes.
However, Centrepoint says that is just the tip of the iceberg as many more young people won’t have approached their local authority for help. The real number of young people experiencing homelessness – not having a safe place to call home – could be much higher.