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David Pearle |
Secret Millionaire to the rescue
Property magnate finds base for homeless hostel offering refuge to recession victims
A NEW
breed of homeless people, thrown onto the streets by the recession, are finding sanctuary at a recently launched shelter – thanks to the generosity of a millionaire.
The hostel, Shelter from the Storm, in leafy Canonbury was bursting at the seams when the Tribune interviewed its guests.
All have fallen on hard times, losing jobs and homes and often sleeping rough. Among those who sought refuge one night last week were a young professional youth worker, a foreign charity aid worker and a former waitress.
The project has now been given free accommodation – a former workshop – by Islington property millionaire David Pearle. The developer, who featured on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire in 2007 where he donated thousands of pounds to a Southampton hospital, has offered to help pay business rates.
The hostel began in a church hall last year with a charity launch by actor Pete Postlethwaite. It provides hot meals and overnight accommodation for up to 30 people twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Charity founder Louie Salvoni, 56, a part-time businessman in the coffee industry, is appealing for funding to open the centre on four nights.
He said: “There is a desperate need. We are getting more and more referrals. These are not alcoholics and drug addicts. These are people who have lost everything in the credit crunch.”
The problem for the homeless is that winter night shelters in the capital are being closed as the weather improves, he added.
“We’ve had to turn away people who have been living in the cold weather shelters because we’ve got no room,” Mr Salvoni said.
Significantly, a third of his guests are women, including a number who have lost jobs, fallen behind with mortgage payments and had homes repossessed.
“We have not received a penny in grant funding from either Islington Council or the government,” Mr Salvoni said.
“We think the council should give us some help as many of our guests live in Islington. Every penny raised is by our dedicated team of volunteers.”
A supermarket chain, which does not wish to be named, supplies the hostel with food.
Volunteer worker Sheila Scott, a church warden at nearby St James church in Prebend Street, said she was amazed at how ordinary many of the homeless guests are.
She added: “These are people who had a flat and a job and everything to live for.
“They get made redundant, but don’t get the kind of payout they would have received if they were the boss of a major bank.
“Redundancy pay never lasts very long and suddenly they have nothing.”
* Shelter from the Storm: contact Louie on 0797 0848457 or email: louie@expressoservice. co.uk |
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