Homeless people to be given music training so they can busk for cash

An online business is helping homeless people in the UK by teaching them skills so they can busk for cash.

Bark.com, an online marketplace, is offering people the chance to nominate homeless people in their area to receive free singing, dancing and music tuition so they can learn a skill.

It’s hoped that with their new found skills they will be able to earn more money by busking.

More than 300,000 people in Britain were officially recorded as homeless or living in inadequate homes in 2017, according to charity Shelter.

Kai Feller, co-founder of site Bark.com says that he was aware of homelessness rates in cities such as London and hoped that the scheme would really be able to help those in need.

“It’s basically about helping the homeless learn a new skill, to help improve their lives.

"Learning maths or English won’t necessarily help them but a new skill like the guitar or to sing, they can almost instantly start applying that to everyday life and I thought it was a good way to give back to the community really.”

The scheme works by getting people to nominate a homeless person in their local area who would like to benefit from the skills.

"As soon as the nomination is received, Bark then match a homeless person with a tutor. At the moment, there are tutors in London, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham but the hope is to expand to more cities.

Mr Feller said: “It would be great to have a few good hundred or up to a thousand across the UK. We’ve got around 70 now at the moment and so far I’m quite surprised with how great the upkeep has been so far. Tutors are so willing.”

At the moment, the majority of the tutors are based in London which the entrepreneur says is good given “how big the homelessness problem in London is.”

According to government statistics, during autumn last year there were 1,140 people sleeping rough on any given night in the capital, up 23 percent on the previous year.

Mr Feller said: “The homeless crisis in Britain is a growing problem and many people feel there isn’t anything they can do to help stop it. We hope that by bringing this initiative, we can help homeless people learn new skills so they can busk instead of beg with the intention that more people will be generous.”