Help for People Facing Homelessness

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• 16 January 2023
• BKM Community Editorial Team
• Campaign has ended
• New York, USA

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Housing insecurity rarely announces itself. It usually arrives as a rent increase that cannot be met, a relationship breakdown, or a tenancy ending with nowhere lined up — and it reaches people who were managing until quite recently.

What This Appeal Does

It supports individuals and families facing homelessness or the immediate risk of it, contributing toward emergency accommodation costs, essential household items for people moving into a new place, and practical help navigating the process.

Beyond Money

Much of what helps is not financial. Understanding a letter from the council, knowing which forms matter, having someone attend an appointment where English is a barrier — these change outcomes, and they cost time rather than money.

If you are facing housing difficulty, or you know someone who is, please get in touch. Enquiries are treated confidentially.

How to Give

We arrange donations directly rather than through this website. To contribute to this appeal, or to ask how your donation will be used, please contact us:

Telephone: 07727 874307
Email: info@bkmcommunity.com
In person: 53 Hemmons Road, Manchester M12 5TW

You can also send us a message and we will get back to you.

BKM Community Group is a community organisation and is not currently registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Donations to us are not eligible for Gift Aid. How we are constituted and funded is set out on our About Us page.

What Homelessness Looks Like Here

Rough sleeping is the visible form and the least common one. Far more people are homeless in ways nobody sees: sleeping on a relative’s floor for months, moving between households, or in temporary accommodation with children and no idea how long it will last.

Those situations rarely resolve on their own, and people in them often do not describe themselves as homeless at all.

What We Can Help With

• Food, clothing and essentials, immediately and without conditions
• Help approaching the council and understanding what it must provide
• Deposits and rent in advance where that is the barrier to a tenancy
• Someone to attend appointments alongside you
• Referral to specialist housing advice where that is what is actually needed

The Obligation

The Quran places the wayfarer — ibn as-sabil — among the categories entitled to zakat (9:60). A person cut off from their means and their home has a claim on the community, not a favour to request.

That framing matters. Someone asking for help here is exercising a right that Islam gives them.

Without Conditions

We do not ask people to attend anything, agree with anything, or explain how they arrived at their situation before we help them. Food is given to whoever needs food.

If You Want to Help

Money is useful. So are winter coats, sleeping bags and hot food. If you work in housing, benefits or immigration advice, a few hours of your professional knowledge is worth more to the families we see than almost any donation.

Zakat or Sadaqah?

If you are giving zakat, please say so when you contact us. Zakat has eight categories of eligible recipient set out in the Quran (9:60), cannot be spent on running costs, and we keep it separate and account for it separately. Sadaqah is not restricted in the same way.

If you are unsure which applies, read Understanding Zakat or Sadaqah: The Everyday Charity That Goes Beyond Zakat, or simply ask us.

Why There Is No Donate Button

We do not take card payments through this website. Every donation involves a conversation, which means you can ask exactly where the money is going and get a straight answer before you give anything. It is slower, and for an organisation of our size we think it is better.

Telephone 07727 874307 · Email info@bkmcommunity.com · 53 Hemmons Road, Manchester M12 5TW