Vulnerable homeless people need long-term support to turn their lives around, campaigners said, as they prepare to open a winter hub in Liverpool to offer support during the coming cold months.
Homelessness charity the Whitechapel Centre is preparing to re-open its night assessment hub over the winter, providing a safe space for homeless people in the city from December 1st. Plans have been submitted to Liverpool City Council and if approved, the hub is expected to stay open until June 30th 2026.
A spokesperson for the Whitechapel Centre said: “The Hub will provide a safe space from which to assess the housing and support needs of people finding themselves on the streets, providing another opportunity for intensive work with people sleeping rough to bring them indoors permanently and reduce rough sleeping in the city overall during the winter period.”
However, the charity’s chief executive David Carter cautioned: “It’s not a quick fix, it’s not a roof over somebody’s head that’s going to solve it. People with long term addictions or people who’ve experienced trauma or are experiencing severe mental health conditions, they don’t just go away just because we help them accommodation.”
Mr Carter spoke about the ambition that the Whitechapel Centre has to do more to help homeless people in the region: “The ultimate aim is to provide that long term accommodation, but we can’t magic up the accommodation in readiness for winter. It’s a hub that will offer a safe space for people that are, either currently sleeping rough or would otherwise be sleeping rough and therefore it’s a safe space where we can work with individuals and complete assessments of need.”
He also spoke about the impact of homelessness and how it can often be the unexpected result of things going wrong elsewhere in a person’s life. He said: “What we need to do is work. The night assessment hub sounds like a quick fix, and it isn’t. It’s the emergency response to an urgent situation.”
Mr Carter speaks more in depth about the homelessness crisis and how it is affecting Liverpool –
