Exclusive Roundhouse gig to help keep homeless Londoners off the streets

Photograph credit (and Ellie Goulding photograph to follow): Simon Brandon

7,500 people sleep rough on the streets of London each year. Relationship breakdown, redundancy, poor mental health, alcohol/drug addiction and domestic abuse are just a few reasons why people become homeless.

Sleeping rough is dangerous. On average homeless people die at 47 years old compared to 81 years for the ordinary UK citizen due to their poor quality of living. They're also 13 times more likely to be a victim of theft than the general public.

With the effects from the economic decline still intact more people are becoming homeless each year. The number of rough sleepers in London has increased by 37% since 2014. Often projects struggle to find the sufficient funding needed to help on a large scale.

Streets of London are a charity providing support for homeless people in London, they also raise awareness of homelessness by putting on live events.

The organisation want to change how people view the homeless: "We want to challenge the perception that homeless people are any different from the rest of us. Homelessness begins when something bad happens and you don't have family or friends around to help. It could happen to any of us."

Streets of London have been putting on events since they became a registered charity. Seasick Steve headlined a concert in 2011 which included a surprise guest appearance John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin.

In 2014 the charity held an auction of celebrity goods. The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, Florence and the Machine, Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, The Killers, Kings of Leon, Alt-J and The XX are just a few names that helped out.

Recently Ellie Goulding played an exclusive fundraising concert at London's iconic venue, the Roundhouse in Camden. Hosted by DJ and TV presenter Fearne Cotton on the 16th December, Goulding kicked off the evening with Rudimental. She then featured duets with Mumford & Sons, John Newman, Years & Years, Kwabs and MNEK.

This is the second time Ellie Goulding has supported Streets of London. The first fundraiser she helped at was last year in December at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. Goulding brought along more famous faces: Bastille, Birdy, Jess Glynn, Kodaline, Kwabs, Tom Odell, Wretch 32, Years & Years, Band of Skulls and Gabrielle Aplin.

After the concert we spoke to fans finding out their thoughts:

"I went to Ellie's Streets of London gig last year, before that I hadn't heard about it, but when I knew she was doing another one I had to be in attendance. It's a lot different to a normal gig because it's mainly acoustic and you see collabs and artists sing together that you wouldn't get to see elsewhere. It's also quite intimate and you feel really included. The volunteers don't force you to donate anything extra if you don't want to but when tickets are so cheap already it's nice to put in my spare change to help out a great cause." - Becky White, 23, Suffolk, Waitress

"The gig itself was an amazing evening. It's incredible to be in such an intimate setting, we've watched Ellie Goulding at bigger venues but this was far better. Ellie shows her passion for the charity throughout the evening and that is important. I have supported the charity for a couple of years since it was brought to my attention in 2014." - Edward Jones, 35, Northamptonshire, Insurance Broker

WATCH: Ellie Goulding and Mumford & Sons cover Elton Johns 'Your Song'

A spokesperson from Streets of London revealed that: "Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we're going to be making grants to fund more projects than last year".

One of the projects that Streets of London made donations to was Shelter from the Storm. The free-of-charge emergency night shelter houses 44 homeless people every night.

With two thirds of rough sleepers being insulted by a member of the public and the amount of people being forced into homelessness increasing each year, can you do something this Christmas to help someone in need?

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