Night Shelter

“My heart and feelings go out to a wonderful service”. 
Shelter Guest, 2011

The night shelter runs through the winter months – from mid November to early April – and is based at a different church venue every night. We provide a warm, safe and welcoming shelter for at least 35 guests who also receive a hot evening meal and a cooked breakfast in the morning.

Everybody who stays at the shelter is given a sleeping mat and sleeping bag. Our male and female guests sleep in different areas. Those who cannot access the shelter when it is full are served a hot meal and drink with some friendly words. On the coldest nights – 0c and below – we try to accommodate all those that arrive at our door, as long as we feel it is safe to do so.

The 2010/2011 shelter season was heavily oversubscribed from the opening day. Every night we were forced to turn away an average of 10 people and there is nothing to tell us that the situation will be different in the future. In order to help us reach as many people as possible this coming winter we are planning to expand the shelter service to include two concurrent circuits, potentially increasing capacity from 35 to 70.

Casework Service
Caseworker are employed throughout the year to offer advice, advocacy and practical assistance to those that use our services. We help our guests access accommodation and other specialist services such as drug, alcohol and mental health services. Our caseworker also helps guests obtain birth certificates, register with a GP and dental services, find employment and deal with benefit issues.

We are very grateful for the support of the Astell Foundation with finding move-on accommodation for our guests. Click on their logo for more information.

Year-round laundry, showers, clothing and information 

“The number of service users continues to rise year on year” 
Laundry Manager, 2011

Our daytime services are based at Chelsea Methodist Church on the King’s Road. The laundry is open 3 days a week and enables our guests to wash and dry their clothes and sleeping bags. Showers with clean towels and toiletries are also available for guests and there is a clothing store, which provides good quality second-hand clothes which are donated by members of the public.
Information Cards

We produce a pocket-sized plastic information card detailing local services for homeless people. The information provided on these cards can be found in our Resources for Homeless Guests section.