A charity is finding housing for Weymouth and Portland’s most vulnerable after receiving a generous donation.

The Lantern Trust will find homes for 40 people after receiving a £10,000 donation from the Deposit Protection Service (DPS).

Mike Graham from the Lantern Trust said: “We’ll put this generous donation to excellent use, reducing homelessness locally and benefitting not just those individuals housed but also the wider community."

The donation will help The Lantern Trust provide interest-free loans towards rent deposits and rent to vulnerable people.

Daren King, Head of Tenancy Deposit Protection at the DPS, said: “We’re delighted to extend our support to the Weymouth and Portland area.”

The Lantern Trust is an independent charitably incorporation founded in 1983 to benefit vulnerable and marginalised people in the borough of Weymouth and Portland.

Working with Dorset County Council, the Trust provides a specialised housing and resettlement project for those in housing need, “endeavouring to meet the complex needs of our customers with a flexible and holistic approach.”

Supporter of the Lantern Trust and councillor for Melcombe Regis, Tia Roos said: “The Lantern does a great job at stopping our homeless stats going up and stopping people from becoming full time homeless. It is a life saver that makes a huge difference to people’s lives.”

“The Lantern's work is more than just giving someone a house but about maintaining people in housing and establishing them in the community.”

Ms Roos added that although the donation was important, it was still not enough as the charity had suffered horrendous funding cuts.

“In the end, any one of us could need these services and we want them to be there if we do,” she said.

The borough of Weymouth and Portland has featured in the English Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) since it was first published in 1997.

The IMD provides a reliable national comparison, assessing areas on deprivation factors including income, employment and barriers to housing and services.

Of the 12 areas in Dorset which feature in the top 20 per cent most deprived nationally, nine are in Weymouth and Portland with Littlemoor, Melcombe Regis, Underhill and Westham historically being the most deprived areas.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council spokesman for housing, Gill Taylor said the donation was brilliant and Lantern’s services were absolutely vital.

“The Lantern is really on the ball with what it does. They help homeless people on a wider field, not just rough sleepers. For the money they receive, they have a phenomenal success rate,” she said.

She added the council did not have the capacity to deal with the increasing number of people seeking support and were working in partnership with the Lantern Trust and other organisations to tackle the problem.

The DPS is the UK’s largest protector of tenancy deposits and has run a charity fund since 2014.