OVERNIGHT WELCOME CENTRE

Providing emergency accommodation for people in danger of 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). Our latest OWC was based in our Crimea Street building and ran from 1 December 2022 until 31 March 2023.

Glasgow City Mission is committed to tackling rough sleeping. Building on the experience and expertise of running a winter project for the last 13 years we aim to make sure no one needs to sleep outside during the winter months December to March.

Each year we look at this issue afresh and adapt to the needs of our guests and the landscape in Glasgow. We changed our model slightly again for the 2022/23 OWC.

Our Crimea Street day-centre was open through the night, every night, from 1 December 2022 to 31 March 2023. We served dinner as usual from 6:30pm until 8:00pm, after which, our OWC team came on site.

Anyone who finds themselves in a crisis can come, or be referred by partners to the OWC, where our trained staff operate a safe, welcoming space.

Previously we were confined to one location in Glasgow in which to accommodate our guests. However the advantage of using Crimea Street as our base, is we are able to access an array of temporary accommodation across the city.

We also doubled our Housing Settlement Officer team for 2022/23. Each morning while the OWC operates they follow up with guests who have accessed the service the night before, and develop a person-centred move-on plan for each individual.

Season Reports

Winter 2022-23
Winter 2021-22
Winter 2020-21
Winter 2019-20

Housing Settlement Officers

Our Housing Settlement Officers (HSO) are now well established roles in our OWC team. Lauren Docherty and Alison Mitchell are job sharing in the post. The HSO 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:

Housing First Glasgow

Housing First Glasgow

Housing First Glasgow