Week One of the Winter Project
On the launching week of Glasgow City Mission’s 2024 Winter Project I sat down with James, a new member of our expanded team of Housing Settlement Officers (HSOs). With 33 years in Prison Ministry, 13 years as a Pastor and over a year as a Prison Chaplain, James is bringing a wealth of experience into his new role.
James is particularly excited about joining this year’s Project, with its’ new focus on moving people stranded in temporary accommodation into settled housing. He feels this will give his team a strong foundation to provide better, longer-term solutions for individuals experiencing homelessness. The HSO team will do this by freeing up bed capacity in Glasgow, reducing funds spent on short-term accommodation, and most importantly giving people the stability they need to survive and flourish.
As Prison Chaplain, James supports people with securing accommodation as they prepare for release. This has given him an incredible insight into the complexity of the Scottish housing system, which he looks forward to developing further as an HSO. Preparing for this challenge has made James reflect on the anxiety-inducing process of navigating the housing system alone for people who are displaced. This was highlighted by James’s encounter with a guest this week, who used a digital translator to request help with his benefits claim. While this was a simple task for James to complete, the language barrier made everything much more difficult for the individual he was helping. Providing support in such a small but significant way reminded James of the potential far-reaching impact that his new role, and the Winter Project overall, could have on people’s lives.
We wish James all the best this week with getting stuck in to his new role, and getting to know the people he will be supporting over the next few months.
