Unseen Tours - from homeless to London tour guide

Aim

Help people who've experienced homelessness to curate their own walking tours, do a job they love and chart a path out out of vulnerability.

Are you outraged at the cost-of-living crisis, and the effect this is having on people in already vulnerable conditions? 

Us too. 

And we'd love for you to help us do something about it. Inability to afford housing costs is one of the leading causes of homelessness in the UK. Low-income households spend a larger proportion than average on energy and food. For this reason, they are more sharply affected by price increases, and therefore more at risk of becoming homeless.

At Unseen Tours, we know a crisis when we see one. Our guides all have experienced hard times, and we’ve been supporting them for more than a decade. And the current cost of living increase definitely looks like a crisis to us!

What We Do...

Unseen Tours want to see a world where there are better opportunities for people who have experienced homelessness and other forms of discrimination and marginalisation. 

We're a tour  company with a difference. Our tours are all led by people who have experienced homelessness. And the tour narratives touch upon their experiences, providing a safe space for dialogue that results in increased understanding about homelessness, improving attitudes in the process. Plus they're a great way to rediscover London's quirky facts and less-known stories that you'd never find in a guidebook!

Each tour is created by the tour guide, so they choose the route, the stories, and the conversations that take place along the way. We just provide the training and opportunity for people affected by homelessness, so that they can do a job they love and chart a path out of vulnerability.

Why we're raising funds...

At this difficult time, we don't think it's fair to have to make the choice between heating their homes or eating. We're therefore raising funds to help contribute to our tour guides' energy bills over the winter months.  

We're also fund-raising for the set up of new tours, to help more people sustain a life out of homelessness in these difficult times by working with us to develop their own walking tours of London.

As a not-for-profit social enterprise, we're committed to ensuring that all funds raised go towards our social mission. Thank you for your support, and we'd love for you to come and rediscover London with us!

This project successfully funded on 9th February 2023