On Sunday 13th March, the 999 Club’s Winter Night Shelter closed it’s doors for this season. We were open for 97 nights providing a warm, safe bed and a hot meal for 66 people. Most importantly we started to engage with people sleeping rough, not only to find them accommodation, but also to help them start overcoming the issues that led to their homelessness.
We successfully helped 34 guests move into more permanent accommodation, ranging from the private rented sector to specialist supported services. Three of these guests took their first steps towards recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction by entering pre-detox support at local hostels. 15 guests chose not to engage with the support on offer to them and found their own housing solutions or are on waiting list with accommodation providers. Excitingly, three people returned to work during their stay with us and another person achieved his CSCS card. We expect the number of people returning to work, training or education to increase as people become settled in their new accommodation.
Sadly, two people left our shelter on closure with no alternative but to return to rough sleeping. We also received 12 referrals to the Shelter that we were unable to accommodate, largely due to their high support needs, lack of local connection or offending histories.
The success of this year’s Winter Night Shelter could not have been achieved without the dedication and support of our incredible staff and volunteers, including the St Alfege Cooks, who provided a hot meal every night.