A CHURCH in Leicester city centre is being equipped to provide emergency accommodation over the winter, to ensure no-one has to sleep rough when temperatures dip.
The winter night shelter is being operated by local homeless charity One Roof, using funding provided by the Government to Leicester City Council, Rutland County Council and local district councils.
It will offer 20 beds every night from 1 December to 31 March, with an extra 19 to be provided during periods of severe weather. These emergency beds are in addition to those already offered by the city council and local homeless charities.
The councils and their partner agencies will be able to refer people to the shelter. Users will also be offered other support they may need, and staff will aim to help them find other temporary or permanent accommodation.
Cllr Elly Cutkelvin, Leicester’s deputy city mayor for housing said: ”We received extra funding from the Government this year to help us with the greatly increased demand on our homeless services. Around £61,000 of this is going towards the running of the shelter, which will provide a lifeline for rough sleepers who, for various reasons, aren’t accessing existing emergency accommodation in the city or county.”
Salma Ravat, CEO of One Roof Leicester said: “At the winter night shelter we will be offering a place to stay overnight to people who would otherwise be rough sleeping in the city and county. Our group of dedicated volunteers will provide a warm welcome and safety to our guests every night”.
The city council also operates the Dawn Centre hostel in Leicester. Open every day of the year, it has 46 rooms offering temporary accommodation, and 19 emergency beds.
Leicester City Council was awarded a one-off extra payment of £880,000 by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government in October this year. The rest of the funding is going towards funding two additional homeless outreach workers; improvements at the Dawn Centre; providing wi-fi to families with children living in temporary accommodation; and funding more work with Help the Homeless.
The council’s homeless outreach team goes out in the city every morning to look for rough sleepers and offer help and accommodation. The council funds the Help the Homeless charity to do this in the evenings and at weekends.
In the past year Leicester City Council has spent around £24 million on providing homelessness services.