WINTER PROJECT
Moving our guests from hostels to homes.
WINTER PROJECT
Glasgow City Mission is committed to tackling rough sleeping and moving guests from temporary accommodation in hostels, B&Bs and cheap hotels to a home of their own.
For more than a decade, our Winter Project has minimised the need for people to sleep rough during the worst of Glasgow’s winter weather. Initially, we welcomed individuals in need of emergency accommodation to stay on mattresses on the floor in our Night Shelter. This was followed by an Overnight Welcome Centre. As the needs of our community have changed, we have continued to adapt. The number of people sleeping rough in Glasgow is now approximately 30. This is a smaller number than most large cities in the UK including Edinburgh.
This past winter Glasgow did not have enough safe, low-barrier accessible accommodation routes. Glasgow City Mission accommodated 233 individuals throughout the winter period in emergency hotel rooms, overseen by our Housing Settlement Officers. Investing in our Housing Settlement Officer (HSO) model, the Winter Project built trust and a strong reputation within hotels in Glasgow.
This winter we are proposing a return to an Overnight Welcome Centre. This is a proven model, professionally run, for the benefit of the guest and with the explicit aim of moving people through the system and into a home with all the support and encouragement that this requires.
This model adds capacity within Glasgow over the coldest months of the year as we work with an extensive partnership network of expert agencies from across Glasgow and wider afield. We do not operate alone — we enhance the city’s collective response and work with many agencies across the city to reach the best outcome for our guests.
Glasgow City Mission is committed to its formula of person centred care in tandem with dynamic and creative approaches to complex problems. Each year adapting, innovating, and maintaining a strong professional reputation that holds respect from all partners and associated agencies. We are expert ‘hand-holders’ of guests who are often in crisis, carrying trauma, or disoriented by systems that we can help navigate. A Glasgow City Mission Overnight Welcome Centre adds capacity, reduces need, increases efficiency, and adds value and dignity to a system that is stretched to breaking point.
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:
