Building Relations, which specialises in property and the built environment, will be supporting the charity in a variety of ways, including fundraising, volunteering and awareness raising through shared campaigns with its Edinburgh office. The first foray into fundraising first involved a 13-mile walk across Edinburgh, along the Water of Leith.

It comes as new figures show that homelessness cases in Scotland are at a record high, with over 30,000 people submitting homelessness applications according to the latest data gathered by the Scottish Government. Between April and September 2023, these applications saw a rise of 10%, in comparison to figures from the same period the year before.

Cyrenians aims to tackle the causes and consequences of homelessness by focusing on prevention and early intervention, as well as lobbying for change in legislation and policy.

The charity strives to stop people from becoming homeless in the first place by addressing potential risk factors such as poverty and trauma and offering support at the earliest opportunity.

Sophie Bell, fundraising manager from Cyrenians, said: “Behind these shocking statistics are thousands of real people desperately relying on a system of support pushed to its limits.

“Scotland should be a place where people facing tough times get the support they need before they hit crisis. Partnering with Building Relations is an exciting opportunity to broaden understanding of our vital prevention work, and work together to reverse these alarming trends.”

Rachel Colgan, founding director at Building Relations, added: “The statistics on Scottish homelessness are jarring. When searching for a charity partner in Scotland, we wanted to make sure we were working with an organisation that was doing more than just putting a plaster over the problem of homelessness.

“The work that Cyrenians do is truly inspiring. They are invested in working with people and communities affected by risk factors and help to stop these issues from contributing to homelessness.

“As a company that works in the property sector, we believe that housing is a basic human right for everyone. We wanted to align ourselves with an organisation that was doing a broad variety of work locally to help combat this problem, which Cyrenians do excellently. Our Edinburgh team is looking forward to getting stuck into fundraising and volunteering with the Cyrenians team in the coming months.”