Churches respond to homeless crisis

Growing numbers of churches in England and Wales are opening emergency shelters this Christmas in what some are describing as the worst homelessness crisis in living memory.

Research by The Tablet has found that accommodation is being set up in parish halls, presbyteries and churches staffed by volunteers. Organisers say parishioners have been inspired by Pope Francis’ call for a poor Church for the poor.

In England, the number of households accepted by local authorities as homeless has increased by 8 per cent and now stands at 57,350. In Slough, Berkshire, three Catholic churches are opening night shelters in January for the first time, with the support of the Bishop of Northampton, Peter Doyle.

John Power, coordinator of the project, said the number of rough sleepers in the town had more than quadrupled in the past 18 months, with reports of people sleeping in graveyards. “I can’t tell you how long I have waited for a Pope like Francis to reconnect us with the core message,” he said. “To say: this is what you should be doing. It should be about getting your hands dirty.”

In Newport, Gwent, All Saints parish is setting up 12 airbeds in its hall for people to sleep on. Project coordinator, Patrick Drewett, said: “Our church is especially blessed to have Pope Francis as a leader who not only speaks about social action but engages in it himself, setting a brilliant example by leading from the front.”

The Bishop of Salford, Terence Brain, chairman of the Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN), said homelessness had worsened following cuts to welfare benefits. “Our charities are also encountering a worrying number of families receiving eviction notices and living in bed-and-breakfast and hostel accommodation: the highest level for four years,” he said. John Battle, former Labour MP for Leeds West, who campaigns against poverty in the north-west, added that homelessness this winter was the worst he had ever encountered.

The ecumenical charity Housing Justice organises a rolling programme in which churches in a designated area open their doors to the homeless one night a week. Its shelter liaison coordinator, the Revd Paul Reily, said that the number of churches involved in London had increased by 8 per cent over the past year, with a similar increase apparent across the UK.

At the Sacred Heart Church in Hove, near Brighton, 15 men will sleep in a hall beneath the presbytery one night a week over winter as part of an emergency shelter scheme. A spokesman said that the parish has more than three times the number of volunteers needed to run the shelter. On Christmas Eve, guests will be given a £10 Boots gift card, donated by the St Vincent de Paul Society, and breakfast on Christmas morning.

Bishop Patrick Lynch, an auxiliary in Southwark and patron of the Robes Project, which runs emergency shelters at 24 churches with over 400 volunteers, said that more Christians are responding to a growing need.

In London and the south-east, where the number of homeless has increased by 13 per cent, the churches that have converted space into temporary shelters include Our Lady of Grace in Chiswick and Sts Michael and Martin