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I want to transfer a homeless person money. That's not bad right?
the bank transfer bit is the thing I'd pause on. cash in hand for a bed at a hostel like the Passage or St Mungo's is one thing, but sending £14 to a random account means he's got a phone, a bank app, maybe a mates account he's borrowing. that's not automatically dodgy, plenty of rough sleepers have phones, but it changes what you're actually doing. you're not buying him a bed, you're topping up whatever that account is.
if you want the money to go to a bed, buy the DOPE mag for a fiver and walk him to a hostel or a Greggs if he's hungry. if you just want to feel good and can spare it, send the 14 and let it go, don't chase it. but as a student on 10k you're not the person who should be solving this, and the guilt trip from strangers online cuts both ways.
Charing Cross and around Embankment there's a few lads who sell DOPE and they're usually legit, the paper's been running since the 90s and vendors do buy in. But £14 is oddly specific for a bed, most hostel spots via St Mungo's or the Passage go through referrals and cost nothing or a couple quid. If he's got a Monzo handy he's prob got somewhere to sleep or at least a network.
Look, you're on 10k and waitressing, you're not the safety net here. If you've got £14 spare and won't miss it, send it and forget it, that's a fair call. If you'd rather it actually becomes a bed, buy the mag and point him at the Noel Street or the Connection at St Martin's, they do emergency beds.
honestly the bank transfer thing is pretty normal now, loads of rough sleepers have phones & monzo accounts, its safer than carrying cash. if ur gut says send it then send it, 14 quid to u is a couple drinks, to him its a bed. just dont expect a receipt or anything back, thats not what its for
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What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking