Charity Spotlight: Doorstep, Kev Hunter Legacy Fund

Kev Hunter, our dear colleague, sadly passed away in 2023. Kev’s passion for supporting people experiencing homelessness, and his knowledge of the sector, live on with everyone at LandAid, and beyond.

Location

Pasture Street, Grimsby DN32 9EE, UK

Kev Hunter, LandAid’s former Head of Programmes & Impact, passed away in 2023 after a short battle with cancer. During the 14 months he worked with us, he transformed the LandAid Grants Programme ensuring that every penny of our funding had the greatest impact, across all areas of housing and support.

He made a profound impact on the lives of everyone at LandAid, on our work and our organisation. He was a force of nature and brought with him an unstoppable drive and sense of purpose. He also reminded us what a great drink Vimto is!

In Kev’s memory, we wanted to make sure his passion, dedication, energy and humour continued to be part of who we are at LandAid today, and to develop his ideas about tackling youth homelessness.

Kev’s Legacy Fund was created to do exactly that. Earlier this year, Doorstep received a grant of £150,000 from Kev’s Legacy Fund, for a brilliant and cutting-edge project.

The Kevin Hunter Legacy Fund

Before he died, Kev agreed to the idea of setting up a legacy fund in his memory. In fact, he got very excited about it messaging us about it right up to his final hours with suggestions and advice.

He wanted the fund to support young people facing homelessness, ideally young women, who were neurodiverse people, and in Grimsby.

So we embarked in a mission to make this happen.

We first spoke to Beth Stone of Bristol University, a lecturer and professor whose research specialises in the intersection between disability and homelessness, particularly focused on autism, ‘hidden conditions’ and young women. This gave us in-depth insight on the impact Kevin would’ve wanted to grant to create.

We then visited a number of charities that specialised in this field, inviting a number of charities to apply. Finally, we found a charity we know Kev would be proud to support.

The selected charity partner: Doorstep

Doorstep exists to support young people to lead an independent and settled way of life by providing housing and floating support for 16-25 year old’s facing homelessness in Grimsby, promoting transitions to independence.

Earlier this year, Doorstep received a £150,000 Kevin Hunter Legacy Fund grant for a very special project.

The Castle Street Modular Project:

Kev’s fund went directly into a technical, innovative and highly impactful project.

The project plans to build a new estate on an urban brownfield site in East Marsh, a hugely deprived area. The building will create four high quality one-bed homes, but its impact goes way beyond bedspaces.

The project is co-designed with the young people it intends to benefit, giving them insights and learning into the design and build process, in turn providing highly valuable employability skills.

In addition, it will support young people into traineeships and employment opportunities.

This project was created specifically to support young people with complex needs, something that was very close to Kev’s heart.

We are incredibly pleased to share that the planning and project are already underway!

The Legacy Fund’s Impact

Doorstep’s project has the potential to create impact way beyond the project itself.

The charity hopes the project will help test how modern methods of construction can provide innovative solutions to youth homelessness, as well as how urban brownfield sites can be regenerated cost-effectively while also creating employment opportunities for young people.

No mean feat!

The prototype will serve as the basis for the development of a modular construction factory in Grimsby, offering traineeship and permanent employment opportunities to local young people.

Why does this matter?

As we approach Housing Week, this project, and Kev’s legacy remind us how issues around housing continue to be some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

The sector continues to face numerous obstacles in providing affordable, sustainable housing solutions for communities around the UK.

Amongst all these challenges, there is space for opportunities to come together in innovative ways to create lasting change.

In Kev’s honour, remembering his unwavering commitment to ending youth homelessness, we are proud to support Doorstep in facing these challenges head on, and providing creative solutions for young people in highly vulnerable situations. He would have loved the project, and raised a glass of Vimto to its success.

Find out more about Kev

Kevin Hunter 1979 – 2023

It is with great sadness that we announce that Kevin Hunter, LandAid’s Head of Programmes & Impact, father to El and husband to Helen, died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday 20 May, following a short battle with cancer.

Kevin Hunter 1979 – 2023

Doorstep

Doorstep exists to support young people to lead an independent and settled way of life.

Doorstep

Projects we’ve supported

Find out more about the projects that have given young people a safe and affordable place to call home.

Projects we’ve supported