Help Rah and Phoenix find a new home

Friends, strangers, whoever you are. I need your help.

My friend Rah Petherbridge, and her absolute sunbeam of a 6-year-old, Phoenix, are facing homelessness.

We are in the midst of a housing crisis, and Rah, a single mother, and her glorious kid are the collateral.

As a single mum trying to find somewhere to live, Rah has repeatedly come up against barrier after barrier: no kids, no dogs, no DDS, couples only, if you're single, you need to earn over £42k per annum. If not, you need a UK guarantor who earns over £50k, and if that is not available to you, you need to be able to provide a year's rent (approx. 15k) upfront. Rah is from a working-class background and, despite tremendous success as an artist, still doesn't have these options available to them.

Rah is brilliant. A wonderful artist and photographer (featured in the National Portrait Gallery) and an incredible mother. I've been witness to her strength, fortitude and unbridled creative mothering. Inventive, playful, curious - Rah has it all in spades. Don't even get me started on Phoenix. The kid is fantastic, deeply empathetic, impossibly cute and wondrously adventurous.

Rah decided to use their Art.

Rah is selling a print of their son Phoenix in their home for £325k.

Why?

£325k is the cost of their little flat.

Rah Is hoping to curate an exhibition of people in similar situations and sell each piece for the price of a home for them too. Rah wants to make this kind of art the most valuable in society.

Faced with an impossible situation, Rah is taking a stand. But I want to make sure she has her community to fall back on. So whilst Rah stands up for herself through her art, we want to raise enough money to help pay for a place for her and Phoenix to live for a year to give her some breathing room to figure out her next move.

We, Rah's friends, are raising the £15k for a year's rent upfront to secure this wonderful pair a safe and secure place to thrive for the next year.

The additional £5k is to help furnish the new place and provide the two with some much-needed funtime.

**** AN UPDATE ****

It's Rah and Little Phoenix's moving week.

Between publishing the print for sale last week and now, the move-out date was moved forward to a critical degree. Rah has just 6 days to move house.

If you can, please consider donating. If you can't, please share.

If you know people in the art world, tell them about the UK's most valuable print: its price is the cost of a home.

We want to get Rah and Phoenix's story into the National Press. Do you know someone who can help?

You can read Rah's story in her own words below. She is not one to ask for help or handouts. But I know we can raise this money with the backing of her friends, her community and a bit of luck.

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My name is Rah Petherbridge and I need £325k. Since 2004, I’ve worked as an Artist and Photographer in London. My work has been featured in the National Portrait Gallery and my images often accompany five-star theatrical productions in the national press. I'm a single mum to a 6-year-old boy pictured here in our current home in Anerly.

The flat is being sold so I’ve been given notice to find another home. When I started my search I quickly encountered some difficult hurdles.

Some of the issues didn’t seem right …

no families, no benefits, working couples only, you must have a guarantor who earns over 50K per annum based in the UK or I must earn 2.5 x the annual rent.

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If you don’t have any of these you need to pay a year's rent in advance. This is nearly 15k. I’m from a working-class background, I earn a humble wage and don’t have that kind of money available to me.

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I approached the council for help. They said I would only be considered ‘homeless’ and in need, if I’m forcibly removed from the property. I would then be offered temporary accommodation for up to 5 years. This would most likely be a bedsit or one bed in a hotel situation. This seems to be my only option and my landlady has filed for a court order to have me removed from the property. She's a kind person and understands I'm not trying to make trouble.

I’m selling this print of my son in our home for £325k. I’ve priced it at that because this is what our home is for sale at. As you can see, it’s basic but big enough for novelty sink bath times, painting on the table, and stories of invisible strings that tie us all together. It’s room enough for our lovely life together! If I sell this print I can buy our home. I can share the memory with the buyer, knowing that we are going to make many more memories. It may seem like a large price tag, but what it buys is quite priceless and unique.

At that £325k, it becomes unfathomably valuable for me and my son’s well-being. I want to offer my son stability. So many people are facing this trauma and we can’t continue to do the bare minimum. This must change.

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If you know someone who would like to buy Rah's print, please head to https://www.rahpetherbridge.com/nokidsnodogsnobenefits