Churches offer homeless a bed for the night

A PROJECT to help homeless people in Bradford will be launched on February 1.

The Inn Churches Shelter pilot project, initiated by the Bradford Diocese, will provide emergency accommodation for the homeless for seven nights per week at a different church each night.

A total of seven churches, from different denominations and all within two miles of Bradford city centre, are hosting as part of the project which will run for one month.

Each church will host up to eight men and/or women overnight on a weekly rotation, provide a hot dinner and breakfast, and be staffed by volunteers from their own church and other Christian organisations.

To date, 26 churches and organisations from across the Bradford area are involved.

The diocese is working alongside Bradford Council, which has emergency provision for nights when the temperature drops below zero.

The churches will be supplementing that and providing help regardless of the temperature.

Shawna Splawn, from the Bradford Diocese’s Church in the World group, said: “The response to this initiative has already been really encouraging. Even in the bad weather there have been up to 32 people at the meetings.

“There is a huge desire in the churches to work together to help those in need, and we have 65 volunteers working together for the month. I'm quite in awe at the level of support and co-operation.”

It is hoped that the pilot project can be set up for a longer period next year.

Start-up funding of nearly 5,000 has been provided by the Church Urban Fund Mustard Seed Grant program.

The diocese of Bradford is handling the funding, but the project is “owned” by every church involved and decisions have been made corporately.

The funds will be used to buy the ‘kit’ for the shelter, to offset electricity and heating charges, to cover training for volunteers and to pay for a project coordinator.

Referrals to the shelter will come from existing agencies – The Red Cross, Octavia Court, The Bradford Day Shelter - and the voluntary sector - The Welcome at St. Mary’s, St. Pio Friary, City Lights, Streetwise, Walking Free, and Hope Housing.