Yorkshire social enterprise aimed at employing homeless people launches £50,000 crowdfunder

Labre’s Hope, which aims to transform the lives of people experiencing homelessness by paying them a living wage to create eco-friendly and luxury soaps or candles, has launched a fundraising drive to continue and expand their work once initial Government funding finishes in December.

The fundraiser comes after figures showed the number of households with children in Sheffield facing homelessness more than doubled last year.

Aaron Probert founded Labre’s Hope after hearing the story of a rough sleeper on a Sheffield street.

Speaking of the recent rise in homelessness figures, he said: “There is a perfect storm of factors all hitting people simultaneously which can only lead to more homelessness nationally.

“We’ve seen some of our workers being asked to pay six months rent in advance which is impossible, even for people in high income jobs.

“It’s been incredible to see how we’ve helped people break the cycle of homelessness and change their lives through employment, but we need to do more.

“We want to continue our work in South Yorkshire and eventually expand right across the country.

“People who are able to back our Crowdfunder will become part of our journey and have a powerful impact on the lives of vulnerable people in society.”

Last week, analysis from Sky News of data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities showed a drastic increase in the number of people receiving homelessness support from the council because their landlord wants to sell or re-let a property.

The data showed a 44 per cent rise in this type of help across the country.

It also revealed that over the last three years, the number of households requiring this kind of support in the North of England has increased by more than 50 per cent.

High energy bills, the cost-of-living crisis and end of the Covid eviction ban are also expected to impact on homelessness figures.

Labre’s Hope received £500,000 from the Government’s UK Community Renewal Fund but those funds must be used by December 2022.

The new Crowdfunding campaign will aim to raise £50,000, with donations of up to £250 match funded by insurance company Aviva.

Hand-made vegan soaps and soap or candle making experiences will be among the rewards available in return.

The idea for Labre’s Hope came to Mr Probert after he focussed his business dissertation at Sheffield University on creating a social enterprise to help homeless people.

Mr Probert noted the desire to help people in a way that made a “tangible impact”, rather than donating money from the sale of a product to a homelessness charity. Danny Wathall is one of the formerly homeless people whose life has been turned around With help from Labre’s Hope - he now teaches soap making to others.

He said: “Anybody can become homeless - I should know, it happened to me.

“In 2019 I ended up homeless, sleeping in sheds, sometimes beds. I got in touch with mental health services who put in touch with some support then everything changed thanks to Labre’s Hope.

"I managed to find a home, I’ve got work, and everythings going a lot better now.”