Using finance to fight homelessness

Bank accounts and clever investment schemes are being used to help improve the lives of homeless people.

In the UK, a number of banks have started offering accounts to homeless people - which until recently were only available to people with a fixed address.

Having a bank account can be a crucial turning point, and we meet a disabled homeless person in one of Britain's biggest cities, who's now able to receive welfare payments as a result.

We also hear from the city of Denver, Colorado, in the United States, where investors were invited to finance a scheme to house people classed as ‘chronically’ homeless.

If the scheme succeeded in saving money for the City council by keeping those people out of Emergency Rooms and police cells, the investors would get their money back - if the initiative failed, they'd lose their cash. Find out what happened on People Fixing the World.

Presenter: Myra Anubi

Reporter: Daniel Gordon

Production Co-ordinator: Ibtisam Zein

Sound mix: Hal Haines

Editor: Penny Murphy

Image: Hands holding a house (Getty Images)