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Raising funds to help desperate families to secure Private Rented Accommodation.

Shelter Housing Advice and Research Project (SHARP) are a local charity which was established in 1974 by the Leicester Shelter Group. We have been providing much needed advice and support to people who are homeless, at risk of becoming homeless or living in poor housing conditions in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. SHARP helps some of society's most vulnerable people. We provide support to people in immediate need who are or are about to become homeless but a very important part of its work is to prevent homelessness occurring in the first place. At present, SHARP receives funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. This funding allows us to employ a small number of staff and to recruit and train volunteers who then help to deliver the services which we provide. However, the demand for our services continue to grow. There is a real shortage of affordable housing in the City and County and poor housing conditions are contributing to the increased referrals to SHARP’s help. These issues have now been amplified by the Covid-19 Pandemic.

As the local councils are unable to house many families that apply to them due to lack of properties these families many whom are desperate only option is to find Private Rented Accommodation, this itself causes problems as many landlords require large deposit and rents in advance. As many of these families are on low incomes they do not have the funds to pay the required money up front to secure the property. We at Shelter Housing Advice and Research Project are trying to raise funds so that we can help assist these families with this money required.

We have recently been featured in an article in the local Leicester Mercury Newspaper discussing how we helped. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/he-set-fire-home-kidnapped-5276647

The overall aim of our work is to make sure our clients have a decent and safe home to live in.

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