JLL sponsored a home with LandAid, bringing an empty property managed by Latch back to life as safe acommodation for homeless young people. After visiting the property to see the impact of their fundaising, Henry Burton, Associate Director – Development Consulting at JLL, reports back:
Last week I got to visit the home that JLL are sponsoring through LandAid’s Sponsor a Home’ initiative. LandAid is a key partner for JLL and supporting our communities is a core component of our Building a Better Tomorrow’ programme.
Over the past year JLL has been fundraising to raise £30,000 to bring an empty house back to use. It was amazing to go and see the property, which very soon will provide a safe, secure and affordable home for young people who have experienced homelessness – it really brought to life the difference our year of fundraising will make.
The property is in Chapeltown, Leeds and is run by local charity Leeds Action to Create Homes (LATCH) as part of their current project Creating Homes, Changing Lives’. The project, once complete, will provide high quality accommodation for eight young people, three of which will live in the property we visited.
The house itself was a lovely old terraced house, full of potential, with plenty of light and with high ceilings. The renovation has just started so the property was stripped out and bare but I could really see the potential to provide the home that it will become for the young people who will live there.
Once renovated, the house will be converted to provide three, one bedroom self-contained flats, giving the residents who move in privacy and their own safe space to learn to live independently and to move forward with their own lives. It was great to see first-hand the real difference being able to be involved in something like this is making to their lives.
The other thing that I love about the project is that it also involves young volunteers in the renovation. Teaching them tangible, transferable skills which they can then use to gain employment, and giving them the tools they need to achieve the brighter future they deserve.
A big thank you to Latch for looking after us for the day and I can’t wait to see the progress that is going to be made as we create a home for young people who so desperately need one.
Find out how your company can sponsor a home.