OVERNIGHT WELCOME CENTRE
Providing emergency accommodation for people sleeping rough in winter
Overnight Welcome Centre
We opened our first Winter Night Shelter in 2010 as a response to rough sleeping during a severe winter. In December 2020 our service changed and we opened our Overnight Welcome Centre (OWC). This year our OWC will be based in our Crimea Street building.
Glasgow City Mission is committed to tackling rough sleeping. Building on the experience and expertise of running a winter project for the last 12 years it is again our aim to make sure no one needs to sleep outside this winter.
Each year we have looked at this issue afresh and adapted to the needs of our guests and the landscape in Glasgow. We are changing our model slightly again this year.
Our Crimea Street day-centre will be open through the night, every night, from 1 December 2022 to 31 March 2023. We serve dinner from 6:30pm until 8:00pm, after which, our OWC team will be on site.


Anyone who finds themselves in a crisis can come, or be referred by partners to Crimea Street, where our trained staff will operate a safe, welcoming space.
Previously we were confined to one location in Glasgow in which to accommodate our guests. Now using Crimea Street as our base, we will be able to access an array of temporary accommodation across the city.
We are also doubling our Housing Settlement Officer team so that the next morning they will follow up with guests who have accessed the service the night before, and develop a person-centred move-on plan for each individual.
Housing Settlement Officers
Our Housing Settlement Officers (HSOs) are now well established roles in our OWC team. Lauren Docherty and Morag MacIver are job sharing in the post. They have recently been joined by Alison Mitchell and Esther O’Connor as we bolstered this essential work. The HSOs are tasked with following up with all guests that have presented at the OWC to ensure they moved onto appropriate accommodation. They work closely with our partners as we strive for a brighter future for our guests.

Working in partnership
The OWC is a project managed by Glasgow City Mission in partnership with other charities, organisations and housing associations concerned with tackling homelessness. Partners include: