Dundee-based Graeme and Leanne Carling are offering units from their extensive property stock in Tayside free of charge, as part of their involvement with Saturday’s Sleep in the Park event.

The couple, who own private property rental and management firms Carling Property Group and PRS Group, are “walking the walk” by sleeping out at Slessor Gardens in Dundee as part of the mass event. As corporate sponsors of Sleep in the Park Dundee, the Carlings have already donated £5000. For every £2,500 more that their team raises, Carling Property Group and PRS Group will house one homeless person free of charge for a year, up to a maximum of eight people.

Social Bite and PRS Group are in talks over how the property firm can divert some of its units for use by the homeless.

Graeme Carling said: “We didn’t hesitate to back Sleep in the Park Dundee. As property developers and supporters of their mission, it just makes sense that we would both take part in and sponsor it. But it was also important to walk the walk and go an extra step, particularly as we are landlords. Not only did we want to sleep out, we wanted to put some of our units to good use and offer accommodation free of charge to homeless people for a year.”

He added: “The more we raise in money, the more people we can house. We will then work with Social Bite to match people with the accommodation.”

Social Bite co-founder Josh Littlejohn said: “We’re delighted to be working with Graeme and Leanne on both Sleep in the Park Dundee and on their offer to provided free accommodation for the homeless. It’s only through innovative solutions like this that we will help eradicate homelessness in Scotland.”