As part of our Meet the Team series, we’re shining a light on the people behind LandAid’s mission to end youth homelessness.
This month, we spoke to Lauren Doy , who’s been with LandAid for nearly four years, leading our communications strategy and helping to grow our impact across the property and charity sectors. Here’s what she had to say about her journey, her role, and what keeps her motivated.
LandAid immediately stood out to me as despite being such a small organisation, the impact achieved was and continues to be huge. Coming from a much larger charity, I was excited to take on a broader range of projects and expand my skills. LandAid also gave me my first line management opportunity, which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed over the past four years. From the start, the openness and trust shown to staff was clear. And, most importantly, the cause – tackling youth homelessness – was a major motivation. It’s a unique and urgent issue. Young people are often victims of circumstace with little family support. It needs a tailored approach to make a real difference which LandAid is striving to do.
As a Senior Communiucations Manager I support the development and delivery of LandAid’s communications strategy across our two key audiences; the property and charity sectors. I oversee all external communications to ensure we plan effectively, stay on budget, and deliver impactful activity on time. I work closely with the Content Officer to ensure our messaging is consistent, engaging, and aligned – helping to inspire our audiences and grow our reach.
One moment that stands out from the past four years was attending a residential trip to the Lake District with young people supported by St Basils, a youth homelessness charity in Birmingham funded by LandAid. For many, it was their first time outside the city, and they were thrilled to try activities like kayaking. Hearing their stories and why they turned to St Basils was incredibly moving. It made me feel proud that LandAid had helped make this possible – and motivated me to keep pushing for even greater impact in my role and beyond.
Pressure to deliver funding is one of LandAid’s biggest current challenges. Rising rents and reductions in benefit payments are heavily effecting vulnerable young people and organisations delivering critical services are struggling with an increase in demand. LandAid needs our partners across the property and wider built environment to recognise this and take further collective action, alongside rallying new company support to expand our network.
Youth homelessness is not an inevitable issue but it can only be solved by coming together, taking action and seeing it as a joint responsibility.
I wish more people could see that small actions can create large impact. When a problem feels overwhelming, it’s easy to believe individual efforts don’t matter – but that couldn’t be further from the truth. At LandAid, our major partnerships are vital, but so too are the individuals who take part in our events, run their own fundraisers, or give their time through pro bono support. Without them, we simply couldn’t reach the thousands of young people facing homelessness across the UK each year.
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