GENEROUS landlords have handed over thousands of pounds to pay a homeless group’s rent for 12 months.

York Residential Landlords Association (York RLA) has given Kitchens for Everyone in York (KEY) £2,080 to ensure they keep serving a cooked breakfast to some of the city’s most vulnerable people.

The Spurriergate Centre group had feared they would have to stop helping the homeless when their limited cash supplies began to run out, but York RLA decided to step in when they heard the group had fallen on straitened times.

Andy Simpson, chairman of York RLA, said: “We have increasingly found that landlords want to give something back to changing accommodation circumstances.

“We already work with a couple of charities which work with the homeless and this is one we think is really interesting.

“It’s a fantastic cause and I’ve been talked through the work being done.

“We are always trying to come up with new ideas to help people.”

The group has recently expanded its service to provide a meal every Tuesday.

Dave Hobman, who founded the group, said more and more people are looking to use the service, but the Tuesday session has only been made possible by an anonymous donation, which has also covered rent for the next 12 months.

Mr Hobman said: “It’s a miracle and we just didn’t know where we were going to get the funding from.

“We had enough money until the end of this year, but then it was going to be a case of ‘what do we do?’, but this will keep us going until this time next year.”

The group welcomes around 25 people through the doors every session and is backed by businesses and supermarkets who help to provide the food.

The Sunday session runs from 8am to 9.30am and Tuesday’s group runs from 6.30pm to 8pm.

Anyone who needs a meal is welcome to attend the sessions at the Spurriergate Centre.