A major fundraising campaign is under way to collect £500,000 to guarantee the future of an under-threat homeless charity in Bradford.

Gingerbread Housing Project aims to raise the six-figure number in order to buy its own premises.

The charity has operated in Bradford for almost 20 years. It offers a lifeline to single parent families who find themselves one step away from living on the streets. Eligible people in short-term emergency accommodation are given fully-furnished flats until they regain their independence.

Support is also offered to those who have recently left the charity’s accommodation and moved into their own homes for the first time.

But Bradford Council is remodelling its housing support after receiving a 13 per cent cut of £2.4 million from the Government to its Supporting People budget. The subsequent strategy would see Gingerbread lose contracts worth £162,000.

After the charity went public with its criticism of the impending decision in the Telegraph & Argus last month, the Council announced it had deferred the matter until later this year.

Corine Campbell, project manager for Gingerbread, which employs 11 staff and has helped 500 families in Bradford, was set to attend a crunch meeting with the Council’s Supporting People team. She said she was going to ask for a compromise and hoped an agreement could be reached that would allow the charity to be funded for the next 18 months.

She said: “That should give us the time to raise the money we need to open in our own buildings. That’s the best case scenario. I don’t expect to hear their decision until later.”

To kickstart the charity’s fundraising campaign, a barbecue and fun day is being held for supporters and service users past and present on Wednesday, July 27.

  • Read the full story Thursday’s T&A