Churches at heart of help for homeless
Housing Justice reports on church-run night shelters
More than 2,000 people will be welcomed into church-run night shelters across the UK this winter, according to a report from the Christian homelessness charity Housing Justice.
Last winter 2,171 homeless guests were accommodated in 500 venues, with at least as many expected this winter. Volunteers invested 231,000 hours in the shelters, with thirty-nine per cent of guests receiving help to make a move into their own accommodation. The shelters typically run between November and March, providing an evening meal, a bed for the night, and breakfast in the morning.
Alison Gelder, chief executive of Housing Justice, said: ‘I think it is vital that churches from across the whole church stand in the gaps left by statutory services as well as arguing and campaigning for those services to be improved or even for funding to be restored.’
The Quaker Christmas Shelter is held annually at Union Chapel, Islington, London, from 23 to 30 December. It offers beds for up to thirty people and meals for as many as eighty.
A report from the 2015 shelter will be published in a future issue of the Friend.
