A GROUP who have dedicated the last seven months to setting up a project to help the homeless have celebrated their official launch.

Former Bankies Ashley and Nicole Cameron, along with Robert McCaig, hope to open a new shelter for those living on the streets of Glasgow.

Their project, known as Homeless Art Scotland, is raising money by encouraging members of the public to purchase vibrant and controversial artwork created by Robert, with the funds raised going towards the shelter.

The 32-year-old said: “We started because we knew there was a need to bring awareness to the current homeless crisis that is going on in our country.

“In the 1950s and 60s the UK was at the forefront of house-building but since then the numbers have dramatically fallen and we are simply not building enough new homes to accommodate the amount of people that now require housing.

“We also knew that homelessness is nothing new and in order to captivate people’s imagination and bring as much awareness to it as possible we had to think outside the box and come up with something different.

"The shelter will be a place where people can go, not just to rest their head at night, but also transform their lives and be inspired by their surroundings and hopefully go on to achieve great things.”

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After reaching out to Glasgow’s MSPs, the group received three letters of endorsement.

But, despite contacting more than 500 businesses to get help with funding, only two responded.

Robert added: “This was extremely tiresome and time-consuming, dealing with constant rejection day in day out, but we knew that the cause was special and if we could pull it off we could potentially help change the lives of thousands of people.

“I kept telling myself that you may have to chap on 99 doors until you get that 100th yes.”

The group then turned their attention to homebuilding and construction companies and received good news from Avant Homes who wanted to make a contribution to get their plans off the ground.

Visit homelessart.co.uk for more information or to purchase a print to get your name inscribed on a brick within the walls of the homeless shelter.