Down and out in Hackney and Islington: play your part in an age-old story

Homeless©DA16:© DavidAltheer@gmail.com under municipal balcony in Haggerston Park Hackney London 080316
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Standing Tall talent scouts: Eddie Radford, Manchester; Christy Acton, founder and chief executive officer; and Georgia Williams, London; pictured in Birmingham

Georgia Williams, right and above, makes a special offer that will benefit the desperate… and you too

 

MANY of us feel inadequate when we encounter homeless people — but how to help? Giving a few quid or some food can sustain them on the street —  but surely we want them to leave the streets for good?

Standing Tall matches homeless people with a full-time, living-wage job with one of the charity’s partner businesses. What’s more, it rewards your efforts with a payment.

The concept has worked in Birmingham, and we are proud to say that in just under two years, 80% of the people we work with have stayed off the streets and are still in the jobs we helped them into.

We want to bring that success to London. So Standing Tall is looking for residents of Hackney and Islington who have a spare room — and spare empathy — to become one of our Amici hosts. (Amici, pronounced Armichy, is Italian for friends.)

Becoming a host is a great way to provide support and shelter to someone for the first six months of their employment. After that, we help them to find a place they can call their own.

Homeless in Hackney: this pic was taken in Dalston on a cold January night

Are you willing to welcome a person who has fallen on tough times but is in full-time work? If so, we will provide training and continuing support — and pay you £700 a calendar month for six months.

Homelessness is a widespread problem in London. Becoming a host is a practical, safe way to help to alleviate homelessness and to change someone’s life for the better. It also earns you some extra income during the cost-of-living crisis.

Our operating model has shown it can make life-changing differences and, one person at a time, reduce homelessness.

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* Backstory: Homeless in Hackney as nearby fashionista flogs luxury to the affluent; When homelessness was a sin

* Photographs two pix at top supplied by Standing Tall, others © [email protected]

* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.

* Links to articles in The Guardian do not imply any approval of the newspaper’s historic slavery links.

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