For Christianah, 2020 offers the potential of a better life for her and her two-year-old daughter; one of financial stability without the threat of eviction hanging over them. Christianah, a 31-year-old former care home worker has just enrolled on a course that by the end of the year will see her qualify as a dental nurse, double her salary and open the way for more lucrative opportunities. “I am so excited to be training for a career that could finally allow me to earn enough to pay off my debts and give me and my daughter a more stable future,” she says.
It has not been an easy journey to get here. Despite having a diploma in health and social care and business administration, and working first as a housing adviser for a charity before being made redundant, and then as a re-enablement officer in a care home, Christianah has also spent some of the last decade homeless.
After splitting up with her partner, she found herself sleeping on the floor of a night shelter, followed by a spell in a women’s hostel, then a few months renting a room in a private property. But she couldn’t make ends meet on her meagre wages – and was forced to live at her mum’s overcrowded house for a year. Although she moved into her own housing association flat in Fulham, west London, in 2016, her difficulties didn’t stop there.
“The rent wasn’t really affordable and I was building up arrears every month,” she explains. After she’d had a baby, and returned to work on fewer hours and with childcare to pay, she found herself thousands of pounds in debt.
In September, the landlord issued a court summons. Fearing eviction, Christianah approached Hammersmith and Fulham council and met with Laurie Shirley, its tenancy sustainment and landlord support officer.
Shirley sees many residents threatened with losing their home because low wages and zero-hours contracts make it impossible to pay the high rents in the west London borough, especially for single mothers, who the housing charity Shelter has identified as being disproportionately affected by rising homelessness. “Balancing work and childcare can be difficult for any parent – add to that wildly unaffordable private rents and the chronic shortage of social homes and it’s no surprise so many are struggling to keep a roof over their children’s heads,” says Shelter chief executive, Polly Neate.
Shirley believes training to get a foot on a career ladder is vital to help provide stability. So she referred Christianah to Beam, a charity whose digital platform helps people who have experienced homelessness to crowdfund for the training and qualifications they need to start their career.
Beam helped Christianah set up a crowdfunding page containing her story, photos and a budget breakdown of the total costs the training would set her back. Paying for childcare was the main expenditure, dwarfing the £1,775 fees for the dental nurse diploma. Then there was a first aid course and hepatitis B vaccinations to pay for. In total, Beam calculated that she needed to raise £4,557. Christianah admits it was daunting to share details of her life with complete strangers online. “I’m quite a private person. The main reason I did it was because I thought I may be able to help someone else in my position who didn’t know where to turn,” she says.
At first, she says she was worried no one would help and checked her campaign page everyday. Shirley got the ball rolling with a £10 donation and posted words of encouragement for other would-be supporters: “Christianah had so much drive and ambition. I am so happy that she is on the path to upskill herself. Well done and good luck.” It took just over a month for Christianah to hit her target of £4,557, thanks to 223 supporters.
Since the end of 2017, more than 200 people have crowdfunded enough financial support through Beam to become trainee healthcare assistants, electricians, plumbers, and beauticians among other jobs, and will eventually earn an average salary of £28k. Many courses are day release from an entry-level job, so participants have to find employment as well as raise funds. Christianah fired off her CV to local dental surgeries and secured work as a dental assistant in a practice in Chelsea.
But not all people referred to Beam are ready for jobs. Beam founder, Alex Stephany, says that only one in five are initially able to make this transition to work. “We don’t want to set up people to fail, but we direct them to other services. For example, there was one chap who engaged with Alcoholics Anonymous and when he was clean he came back to us and got his training and now works on a construction site.”
The charity has contracts with four local authorities and partners with 31 charities in London. Hammersmith and Fulham was the first council in Britain to work with Beam. It has the 17th highest number of homeless people in England – totalling more than 3,000. Sue Fennimore, the council’s deputy leader, says it’s not a panacea to building more affordable homes, but fits into a much wider homelessness strategy. “We have a dreadful housing crisis. But we need to look at every single barrier. Helping people into a sustainable career is what some of those who have experienced homelessness need.”
Although Beam only works in the capital now, its 4,489 supporters are drawn from across the country and have raised a total of more than £660,000. Joanna Panton and her husband, Ian, live in Exeter. They heard about Beam after seeing a man on TV who had been helped to become a crane rigger. “I like the idea of lots of people chipping in to make a long-lasting difference to a homeless person’s future,” says Joanna, who gives £25 a month. “I feel bad about seeing people on the street but I don’t give them money. I want to know more about them and to make a meaningful difference and that doesn’t seem possible as a chance encounter.” For the 67-year-old, posting messages of support are as important as the money. “We admire you both and wish you every success,” she wrote to Christianah and fellow dental nurse trainee Sara.
Beam may not seem the obvious charity to support to end homelessness. After all, Christianah does have a flat. But, as she points out: “I was homeless and could be again. You can get into bad situations and don’t always have the support networks. With a bit of education and skills we can get good jobs, pay taxes and give back to society.”
Stephany says Beam hopes to help one person a day in London in 2020 (tripling its 2019 numbers) and he is keen to talk to other cities in the UK and worldwide about replicating the model. “I get contacted by people from all over the world – just last week, people from South Africa, and a few cities in the US and Europe – who feel very disempowered and want to help homeless people, and by people who want to use the service. But we need a physical presence to make it work. This year we will bring a focus to improving our processes and scaleability beyond London.” Meanwhile, the charity’s approach is garnering numerous accolades, including as overall winner of this year’s Tech4Good awards and the best financial inclusion organisation in Europe from MIT.
Back in Hammersmith, Christianah says she would like to meet her supporters face to face to say thank you. Moreover, once she has finished her course, she wants to become a Beam supporter herself. She says: “I don’t really like asking people for help. So it would be like paying back.”
