More beds open for St Albans homeless as winter sets in

Volunteers like Mary and Jackie help keep the Winter Beds Project running

Emergency beds for homeless people have opened up to reduce the numbers sleeping on a town's streets as winter sets in.

The temporary accommodation for rough sleepers in the St Albans area is part of the annual Winter Beds Project.

Three self-contained cabins with a total of four beds have been set up on land owned by the charity Emmaus in Hertfordshire.

The heated units include beds and bathroom facilities.

The cabins are part of a raft of measures introduced over the years by St Albans City and District Council and partner organisations in a bid to provide a bed for every rough sleeper who wants one.

Jacqui Taylor, the Liberal Democrat chair of the council's housing committee, said: "Protecting the small number of rough sleepers we have in the district at any one time is a priority for us.

"Once again, we are delivering the Winter Beds Project together with local homeless charities and organisations including Open Door, Hightown and Emmaus."

The Winter Beds Project is an annual volunteer-run initiative, managed by the Open Door charity and funded jointly by them and the council.

Lindsey McLeod, co-ordinator of the project, said: "This is the seventh year in a row that we have run [this] in St Albans.

"It is there to prevent people freezing on the streets when the temperatures plummet by providing them with self-contained accommodation and access to support services that address their housing and other needs.

"Last winter, the project provided accommodation every night from December through to April and helped 16 people who would otherwise have slept rough."