Most towns and villages have a local church. And whatever denomination it is, this means that the people who run it believe in some kind of God. So it pays to help local homeless people, rather than just keep all donations to themselves.
The best solution to help homeless people is obviously to find stable accommodation for homeless people, so they can give themselves and their dogs a home.
There are presently around 250,000 homeless people in England (this includes rough sleepers, sofa-surfers and people living in temporary bed-and-breakfast accommodation). It’s important to know that homeless people can still claim benefits, even with no fixed address.
Homeless people can claim Universal Credit (give the address of a family member or friend or a local hostel or even job centre). If you don’t have a bank account, use the government’s Payment Exception Service to collect benefits from a local post office or PayPoint outlet.
If you see someone sleeping rough, the best help is to send a report to StreetLink, an organisation that has local outreach teams that mostly visit rough sleepers at night, to alert them of support to find benefits and accommodation (if the person is under 18, call 999).
Support the Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is our main ‘Christian charity’ that helps homeless people. As well as donating unwanted clothing in their charity banks, you can bank with Reliance Bank Ltd (which gives a lot of its profits to the Sally Army), as does SAGIC Insurance.
Donations also help this organisation to provide Nap Pads (emergency accommodation in small pods that are light & airy with a window, secure front door, bed, toilet, hand basin and storage area, plus connection to heat, running water and phone charging). They even have sensors (similar to that preventing crib death) to alert people, if someone stops breathing.
Use Church Income to Invest in Property
Green Pastures is a great idea, where churches invest to buy properties to house homeless people (who in return offer 10 hours help a week). Rather than invest church funds on the stock market (Jesus would be proud!)
A Faith Charity That Helps Homeless People
Church Homeless Charity is a smaller organisation that offers grants of up to £175, to help people move from rough sleeping to a hostel, or from sofa-surfing to a private tenancy. It receives no funding from the Church of England (which has an income of around £1 billion a year, with The Telegraph reporting it donates just 5% or so to charitable causes).
