The Whitechapel centre is asked each year by Liverpool City Council to organise a cold weather provision for rough sleepers, beginning at the start of December, and finishing on the 1st of April.
The provision consists of two tiers;
Tier 1 is a night shelter which is based at St Stephen's church on Crown Street in Liverpool 8. The shelter opened when the predictive weather forecast indicated that the temperature will hit 0° or below for three consecutive nights.
As well as having a warm safe place to spend the night, rough sleepers who present there are provided with hot soup and other refreshments.
Tier 2 consists of a dedicated staff team providing support for people who have accessed the night shelter with the aim of finding solutions for there homelessness. This is achieved by assessing people’s needs and liaising with housing providers such as hostels and private landlords to provide solutions.
This year the night shelter has been open for 13 nights and we have found solutions for 40 people. Many of these people are from socially excluded groups and have complex needs, and without the cold weather provision they could have been faced with spending the cold winter months sleeping rough.
This is a fabulous achievement, a real success for Paul and his team, who worked long hours in order to get such great results.
For more information on our Cold Weather Service, or any of the other services that we provide, please see our website at: http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/
