Just six months after partnering with Centrepoint, the mydeposits tenants and team have donated over £148,000 to the 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 is a fundraising challenge that doesn’t replicate what it’s like to sleep rough but gives an idea of the situation.
Volunteers from mydeposits swapped their beds for a night at the Oval Cricket ground.
A spokesperson for TotalProperty, which runs mydeposits, says: “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, adds: “No young person should ever have to experience homelessness, but the reality is that almost 136,000 16 to 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.”
If a tenant’s deposit is held with mydeposits in their Custodial deposit protection scheme, after 182 days the tenant will earn interest on it. This means that at the end of their tenancy the tenant might receive interest in addition to getting their deposit back.
mydeposits has facilitated tenants’ ability to donate any interest accrued from their deposit to Centrepoint at the end of their tenancy, instead of claiming it for themselves. So far, tenants have chosen to donate over £142,000 and mydeposits will be continuing the scheme in hi to next year to make a long-lasting difference to homeless young people.
