In order to facilitate the soaring demand to provide shelter for the homeless, the Glasgow Winter Night Shelter has now once again opened its doors for what is expected to be the busiest ever Christmas for homeless shelters in the UK.
As the temperatures continue to plummet in the UK, the Glasgow Winter Night Shelter is set to provide emergency shelter and warmth to those living out on the streets, and due to 2016’s city-wide cuts to the social care budgets, the staff are bracing themselves for their busiest festive period to date.
The shelter is run by the Glasgow City Mission, and in 2015 it provided a home for as many as 605 people on 4,060 occasions, which despite being a staggering 95% increase on 2014’s will fall plenty short on this year’s figures according to predictions.
“You just need to walk around the city centre for a few minutes before you realise just how many people are now begging or sleeping rough” commented Grant Campbell, the chief executive of the Glasgow City Mission. “There has been an unquestionable marked increase this year on the visibility of street homelessness in a way that we haven’t seen in recent years.”
Support and funding for the shelter will be provided by individual donations as well as donations from partners such as NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Police Scotland, the Govan Law Centre and Glasgow Homelessness Network.
Last year saw fans of Rangers FC sleeping out on the pitch to raise £70,000 for the shelter, which meant it could open for an additional month both in 2016 and 2017, as well as paying for the legal advocacy services.
The doors will open at 10pm every night from now until March 31st next year, and will of course be open on Christmas and New Year, as the team continue to provide an admirable service for the homeless in Glasgow.
