Issue details

The purpose of this report is to seek Executive approval to allocate funds from the Homelessness Prevention Grant to enter into a 12 month pilot Beam, an on-line fundraising platform and social enterprise, to help homeless people and those at risk of homelessness find employment and/or accommodation.

Beam is a social enterprise that supports individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness into employment and accommodation in the private rented sector.  Beam partners with local authorities to provide long-term, sustained support by removing the financial barriers that prevent service users from starting work and finding a home.  These barriers include access to training, laptops, travel, childcare and rental deposits.  Beam’s flexible fundraising model removes these financial barriers quickly; on average it takes less than a month to fund an average fundraising total of £2,534.

Beam does not only offer financial help as it also facilitates engagement from those it supports by empowering individuals to tell their personal story through their webpage and show an itemised budget breakdown of how much they need to raise.  Members of the public can then donate as little as £1 and leave messages of support.