Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Youth hostel offers nights in from cold for city’s homeless
Covid forces rethink of winter shelter scheme
The city’s youth hostel is acting as a winter night shelter for the homeless - allaying fears rough sleepers could freeze to death if temperatures plummet. In recent years, the seasonal service has been run by Catching Lives in conjunction with churches in the city centre, using their halls to provide overnight accommodation.
But concerns over the spread of Covid meant the arrangement of beds close together would not be safe.
Catching Lives manager Terry Gore says that without the facility he feared for the welfare of the most vulnerable rough sleepers.
But now an arrangement has been made by the city council, in partnership with Catching Lives and Porchlight, to use the Youth Hostel Association’s property in New Dover Road for the emergency accommodation. Catching Lives will continue to play a crucial role in providing trained staff to man the service overnight and provide support to clients.
The YHA building has been out of action due to Covid but is now providing 17 rooms for rough sleepers to bed down in. The scheme, which runs until the end of February, will be paid for with a £71,000 grant from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and includes £20,000 to help those using the shelter to find permanent accommodation.
Mr Gore said: “I have to admit I
was quite anxious about the welfare of the rough sleepers when Covid meant we couldn’t operate our community winter shelter using church halls. “But in what has been a difficult year for us all, we are pleased to be able to have some emergency accommodation to offer those who need it; something that wouldn’t be possible without the council.”
The city council’s lead member for housing and commu
nity support, Cllr Joe Howes, said: “Covid-19 has presented us with enormous challenges to the way we normally operate in the winter and Catching Lives and the council have been working incredibly hard behind the scenes to find a way of overcoming those challenges. The latest research has recorded 28 rough sleepers in Canterbury, although Mr Gore believes there are more who go under the radar.
Cllr Howes said: “Catching Lives, Porchlight and the council work hard to persuade people to accept accommodation but the sad truth is not all do and we cannot force them to accept help.”
As part of the winter shelter scheme, rough sleepers will go to Catching Lives each night to register, be screened for Covid19 and have a hot meal before being escorted to their bed. During the day, staff try to find users permanent accommodation and help them access health services and benefits advice.
‘In what has been a difficult year for us all, we are pleased to be able to have some emergency accommodation to offer those who need it’