A charity is appealing for help to solve a town’s homelessness crisis after learning two of the hotels it relies on for temporary accommodation could soon close.

Making a Difference Maidstone (MADM), which helps victims of abuse, the unemployed and those in poverty, is looking for investors so it can buy its own digs.

It comes as the charity recently allowed one man with Parkinson’s disease, who had recently lost his home, to sleep in its offices for three months while he found somewhere to live.

To others, it can do no more than supply tents so they can sleep rough.

But founder of the Christian organisation, Amanda Sidwell, says with the help of investors it can do better.

MADM was founded in 2016.

From its headquarters in Church Street, Maidstone, it operates a food bank, a toy bank, a pots and pans store, a Christian book store and provides clothing for those in need.

It also offers support services, directing people to the places where they might get help with benefits, debt advice or with addiction.

Mrs Sidwell said: “No two people are the same. Everyone has individual needs and we try to help as best we can - by booking them medical appointments, handing out a food parcel, and directing them to soup kitchens. Perhaps giving them a tent, if they have no option but to sleep rough.”

But she said the pressure was growing - particularly for those needing accommodation.

Recently, MADM allowed one man who had lost his home to sleep in one of its office spaces for three months until he found new rented accommodation.

She said: “Everyone wants to come to the south. People still think the streets are paved with gold here.”

MADM has an open door policy, helping ex-offenders, refugees and asylum seekers, as well as people who have lost their home because of a marital break-up, ill health or job loss.

She said: “Maidstone council does a lot, but it can only help people who meet its criteria.

“MADM has never had its own accommodation to offer, but we have helped people to find accommodation - at Cutbush and Corrall almshouses, at Kenward House.

“We’ve sometimes had to put people up for a few nights in a bed and breakfast.”

But just as those seeking accommodation are finding it increasingly difficult, with soaring rents and too many people chasing too few rooms, so too is MADM having problems.

Mrs Sidwell said: “In the past, we have used the Rock House Hotel or the Grange Moor Hotel. But the Rock House has been put on the market, and The Grange Moor is turning one of its buildings into an HMO, so we are losing even that facility.”

She said finding accommodation was key, because without an address, people could not get a job.

She believes the answer is for MADM to buy its own property - she even looked at the Rock House Hotel.

She said: “It’s a wonderful facility, 15 bedrooms. It would be ideal. But the asking price is £795,00. We don’t have that sort of money.”

She is now appealing for investors - perhaps businesses with a social conscience - to come forward with offers of financial help, if not for Rock House, then for somewhere smaller.

She said: “They would be investing in property - and that never goes down - but also investing in people, helping those in crisis to get back on their feet.”

Anyone who can assist in any way should email Mrs Sidwell on AmandaS@madm.org.uk or call 01622 687414.

KentOnline spoke to the gentleman who has been kipping in the MADM offices. He asked not be named, so we shall call him Jack.

Jack was in a happy relationship living with his second wife, with whom he shared a love of travelling.

Then Jack was struck by ill health. First, plagued by a hereditary back problem, he had to have an operation to fuse his spine. Then he began to develop Parkinson’s disease.

He said: “I first became aware something was wrong when I was at a restaurant with friends. I just couldn’t hold the knife to cut my steak.”

Since then the condition has developed.

Jack, who can no longer drive, said: “Your digestive system slows down and everything just takes longer.

“When I don’t sleep, it’s the worst thing in the world, because everything shuts down and I get massive pins and needles.”

Jack said he was initially very angry with his condition which put a toll on his relationship.

He said: “We began bickering and eventually decided we had to split up.”

When Jack walked out in July last year, he had made no plans where to go and spent the first night sleeping on a park bench near Otham Church.

Fortunately, Jack, a former regional business manager for a retail company, was in steady employment with a company in Maidstone.

He was able to find accommodation in hotels and Airbnbs initially, but soon found that was eating through his savings.

Then he got a sub-let in a house in Upper Stone Street which he shared with two others.

All was well until the landlord gave all three notice to quit.

Jack, 61, initially made no great effort to find a new home.

He said: “I was in work. I just thought I would land on my feet.”

He didn’t.

He found he no longer had the money to pay the deposit that some landlords were demanding, and when he did find places, they were quickly gone - several times he found himself gazumped.

He turned to Maidstone council and to Trinity House in Church Street for help, but neither were able to assist.

Eventually, someone directed him to MADM.

He said: “At first they put me up in the Grange Moor Hotel. I felt very humbled.

“But that soon exhausted their little nest egg, but then they agreed that I could catch up on sleep by kipping in one of their offices.”

“When you are a single guy and you are homeless, you are the lowest of the low…”

“It worked because I am on night shifts, so when I was there, there were always staff in the building.”

Originally from Essex, Jack has a daughter now aged 27 from his first marriage, with whom he is now estranged.

He also has brothers and sisters, but has lost touch with them all.

He said: “It’s very difficult to find a room. When anything comes up, there are dozens of people chasing it.

“When you are a single guy and you are homeless, you are the lowest of the low. MADM has been a Godsend. They’ve been so good to me.

“By letting me stay here, I was able to save enough for a deposit and had time to look for somewhere.”

He has just secured a room in a new shared property near Maidstone prison at £650 a month.

Jack intends to continue working for the time being.

He said: “I like working, it’s a good vibe. The place is full of characters.”

He is sanguine about the future. He said: “They say you don’t die of Parkinson’s, you die with it. I’m thinking if I reach 70, I’ll be happy.”