New Gloucester winter shelter opens for homeless and vulnerable

General manager of Gloucester City Mission Kevin Howie said the winter shelter would initially offer 12 beds

A new and improved winter shelter is offering homeless and vulnerable people a safe place to stay throughout the coldest months of the year.

Gloucester City Mission is offering a bed for the night, a meal and a hot shower from 1 December to 31 March.

The shelter has been running for five years and is opening in a new location in the city on Eastgate Street.

An education and training centre will also open at the base in January to support clients finding employment.

Kevin Howie, Gloucester City Mission's general manager, said the "fantastic" new building would help people with nowhere else to go over winter.

Its new premises in Eastgate Street will offer users a more "dignified" stay with beds, toilets, showers and a lounge area

"We are going to start with 12 beds but can provide more and we expect to see about 115 different individuals during the winter.

"We work closely with the local authority and share information on rough sleepers. It's a transient population."

He said it was a place people could turn to if they had been evicted, or for rough sleepers who had rejected other offers of accommodation for whatever reason but needed somewhere to stay when the weather turned colder.

"It's not just homeless people or rough sleepers, it's anyone who needs it," Mr Howie said.

It costs £30,000 a year to run the shelter and relies entirely on fundraising and donations.

Mr Howie said there were about 11 people classed as rough sleepers in Gloucester but the number fluctuates

A donation of £25 covers the cost of getting someone off the streets for a night and includes their meals, showers, laundry and clothing.

The shelter is not a 24-hour service and anyone sleeping there is asked to leave by 07:30 GMT the following morning after being given provisions for the day and advice for how to access further support.

"We benefit from not being seen as authority figures like the police and council and have a better relationship with them," Mr Howie added.

The winter shelter will be based at the city mission's new building which has been undergoing renovations

He said the new building would help the mission to achieve its goals to offer a more "dignified provision" to clients.

"Before it was roll-mats and sleeping bags on the floor but now its beds, toilets, showers and lounges," he said.

The mission is also offering longer-term prospects for its clients with the opening of an education and training centre next year.

"We want to give more opportunities to improve people's lives.

"One of the biggest gaps is education, they may have had a negative attitude to education in the past so it makes it more difficult to get a job," he said.