Q-Park at Mailbox in Birmingham has been announced as the Midlands venue for this year’s LandAid SleepOut, which will see over 1,000 property professionals across the country brave one night outside on Thursday 10 March in a bid to raise over £500,000 to tackle youth homelessness.
This is M7’s seventh year as a foundation partner to LandAid, the property industry charity working to end to youth homelessness in the UK. In 2020, M7 contributed a £50,000 grant towards the LandAid House project, which saw the old city YMCA redeveloped into accommodation for 146 young people.
The Birmingham SleepOut, sponsored by Prologis, will take place at Q-Park, Mailbox and each participant will be asked to raise over £166, the cost of funding a bed space for a month. Every penny will take LandAid one step closer towards its mission of ending youth homelessness for good, and all proceeds raised from the Birmingham SleepOut will help fund St Basils Live and Work Village 2 scheme.
St Basil’s Live and Work Village provides accommodation for young workers for under £43 per week, inclusive of all bills. The scheme is open to 16 to 24 year olds in the West Midlands who are employed – and is particularly ideal for apprentices and those on a low income. The scheme is totally Benefit Free, which means that young people get the opportunity to Live and Work without having to rely on welfare benefits. The current Phase 1 scheme is home to 32 young people and provides an additional on-call service should a young person need out of hours support.
Since opening in 2015, the scheme has won numerous awards, including two for NHS partnership work and one for ‘Excellence in Education’, as well as the 2018 National Housing Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to tackling Homelessness’ and National Housing Award in 2020 for ‘Homelessness Partnership of the Year’.
Paul Morrish, Chief Executive of LandAid, said:
“I am delighted that we are taking the LandAid SleepOut to six different locations across the UK as well as virtually, giving everyone the opportunity to brave one cold night outside to end youth homelessness. The last 22 months have been difficult for us all, but in particular young homeless people, who may not even have a roof over their heads. Last year’s virtual SleepOut provided a truly impactful opportunity to raise money to help vulnerable young people across the UK. This year, I hope that even more property professionals from across the country will be sleeping out for one night with all of us to make changes to young people’s lives which will last a lifetime.”
Ruth Miley, M7’s senior asset manager for the Mailbox, added;
“The LandAid SleepOut is an important annual event for the property sector, and we hope that by hosting this year’s Midlands SleepOut at Mailbox, we can help to bring even more people together to raise vital funds to support Birmingham’s vulnerable young people.”
To register for the LandAid SleepOut at Q-Park, Mailbox, on Thursday 10th March, visit: https://join.landaid.org/event/sleepout/location-birmingham
For those taking part in the SleepOut At Home, there will be a livestream for all participants to join, featuring speeches from property professionals, the headline and regional sponsors, and young people who have experienced homelessness.