We are pleased to confirm that for the 14th year in a row Glasgow City Mission will open our Overnight Welcome Centre (OWC) on 1 December 2023. The OWC is much changed from the original shelter we opened in 2010/11 and offers real routes out of rough sleeping for 2023/24.
As with last year, when we helped 534 individuals avoid rough sleeping, the OWC will operate out of our building at 20 Crimea Street. Our positive outcome rate of 95% was only possible because of our fantastic partners. Once again, our partners will support and help our guests in their time of crisis. Please see the list of partners below.
This year with the cost of living crisis and rising numbers of people sleeping rough in Glasgow we will be even busier than before. Our fully trained members of staff in the OWC team will support all those that come to us through the night and treat them with dignity and love in the traumatic circumstances they find themselves. The morning after, our Housing Settlement Officers (HSOs) will meet with each guest and put together a personal plan to move them from an emergency bed onto a more permanent solution. This plan will involve our partners as we tap into the professional expertise available in the city to address each unique situation, many of which are complex and involve vulnerable people.
Glasgow City Mission will also be supporting these individuals through our City Centre Project and Child and Family Centre in Govan. Our staff will offer support for women in crisis, those in addiction, families struggling, those needing help with the benefits they are entitled to and general financial advice. We will also help those new to Glasgow to integrate into our city.
We approach the OWC with confidence that, because of our strong partnerships, we will support this year’s OWC guests into real routes out of rough sleeping.
List of partners:
Blue Triangle Housing Association
