rovides further insight into the SleepOut experience and tells us why she'll be taking part again this evening..

The LandAid SleepOut experience: Carter Jonas

Ahead of the 2024 LandAid SleepOut, Tamerah-Kate Couchman, Head of Residential Marketing at Carter Jonas, shares her first-hand experience of the LandAid SleepOut and why she’s signed up to take part again.

07/03/2024

Carter Jonas has been a long-term supporter of LandAid, and as our partnership goes from strength to strength – with Carter Jonas taking on the role of regional sponsor of the 2024 LandAid SleepOut in London – Head of Residential Marketing, Tamerah-Kate Couchman, provides insight into the ongoing partnership, the LandAid SleepOut experience from a past participant perspective, and her motivations for taking part again this year.

Hello, I’m Tamerah. I’ve worked in the property industry, in London, for 17 years, nine of those years have been at UK multi-disciplinary property consultancy Carter Jonas.

Established in 1855, Carter Jonas has 34 offices throughout the country, including nine in central London, each offering tailored property advice and services across residential, rural, commercial, and planning and development.

As Head of Residential Marketing, I am responsible for all activity and campaigns relating to the part of the business that sells, lets, and manages people’s homes and residential property investments. I work in a wider 16-strong marketing team with specialists working across digital, PR and design.

Carter Jonas’ national and regional coverage is supported by an exclusive affiliation with Christie’s International Real Estate, opening our offering to international clients and customers.

Carter Jonas has supported LandAid in its mission to end youth homelessness in the UK for over a decade.

Partaking in, and organising various fundraising activities, and initiatives throughout this time including as the headline sponsor of spring/summer cycling events, namely the Carter Jonas LandAid Pedalthon, and the Tour de LandAid.

As our partnership goes from strength to strength, we’re thrilled to now be involved in a new capacity as the regional sponsor of the 2024 regional LandAid SleepOut in London.

From a personal perspective, my motivations for taking part in the LandAid sleepout are two-fold.

Firstly, the majority of people in the UK experiencing homelessness (I believe around 24%) are in London.

I’m originally from Croydon, as an adult have lived in the boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth, and I work in Westminster. These boroughs account for four of the top ten worst boroughs for homelessness, with Westminster recording the highest numbers of rough sleeping.

It is therefore impossible not to be aware of the horrors people experiencing homelessness face, especially during uncertain times and particularly in the bitterly cold winter months.

It’s so easy to see how, without the right support network, a person can end up sleeping on the streets, even if they are in full-time employment. It is a cause close to my heart and I would like to do anything I can to make a difference.

Secondly, as part of a senior leadership team at Carter Jonas, I feel a responsibility to set an example to my colleagues that it’s important to ‘show up’ at these events and communicate the intention to support this crucial cause.

The event also provides a networking opportunity to meet peers from other companies and see how they and their employers approach charitable endeavours.

I’m also a raging insomniac and not much of a runner or cyclist, so the SleepOut is the ideal fundraising activity for me! I have taken part in the SleepOut several times before and I’m always so moved by the speeches from the incredible people working to end youth homelessness.

The experience of the SleepOut itself is obviously not pleasant, although mercifully when I’ve done it previously it hasn’t rained.

It’s one thing to walk around in sub-five degrees in a coat and shoes, or stand at a bus stop, but lying on the freezing ground for eight hours is painful, even if you do manage to sleep.

However, those eight hours in a sleeping bag and thermals, with constant access to hot drinks, surrounded by colleagues whilst safe in the knowledge that you can be back in your own warm bed the following evening are nothing compared to the plight facing hundreds of thousands of young people who are actually experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and have had the choices that I enjoy every day, taken away from them.

That is the reason I have decided to take part again and have tried to drum up as much sponsorship as possible via my fundraising page.

If you'd like to support you can do so here

The LandAid SleepOut is growing year-on-year and now with the virtual SleepOut at Home option, it means that colleagues can take place from wherever they are – if they are working abroad, unable to get to one of the venues, or want to get their whole family involved.

Every penny raised from the LandAid SleepOut supports charities and projects throughout the UK providing vital lifelines to young people who have nowhere to turn.

I urge anyone thinking about taking part in the SleepOut to do it.

It really does change the way you think about homelessness and makes you better equipped to educate others. Register for the 2025 event as soon as possible!

Tamerah will be taking part in the 2024 LandAid SleepOut on Thursday 7 March

Alongside her Carter Jonas colleagues and over 1,000 other professionals across the property and built environment industy.

Show support to the SleepOut participants here

Thanks to Carter Jonas and to Tamerah for their ongoing support and sharing this experience with us!