 Your name, in what capacity you are here today (work/church/personal interest) and …  What interested you about this workshop or what question would you like answered?

 An opportunity to... ◦ find out more about how Church Night Shelters are supporting homeless people across England and Wales ◦ find out more about how they work and how you can set one up ◦ ask questions and share personal experiences

◦ Rolling church model – more recently including mosques, synagogues, temples ◦ Building an inter-faith community ◦ 7 venues – model variations ◦ Volunteers – team leaders, shift leaders, cooks, welcomers, cleaners, activity leaders ◦ Hospitality – the primary focus ◦ ‘Guest’ vs ‘Client’ distinction ◦ Creating an environment conducive to personal transformation What are Church and Community Night Shelters?

 Headlines from the 2013/2014 Season ◦ Almost £1.5 million worth of volunteer time. ◦ 112,300 volunteer hours across 24 Night Shelters ◦ Open for 2,380 nights, offering 42,161 bed places in just under 450 Churches, Church Halls, Synagogues and Mosques. Impact across England and Wales

 What was achieved... ◦ 1,577 guests were offered overnight shelter for varying periods of time; of whom 491 received some sort of move on accommodation, which is a 34% move on rate! ◦ A total of 934 had some form of case management support (almost 60% of the total).

 Night Shelters take people who are actually homeless ◦ the majority of guests are neither sofa surfers, nor vulnerably housed i.e. ‘hidden homeless’ but are actually street homeless i.e. ‘rough sleepers’ ◦ The Iceberg Analogy ◦ New to the street, living on the street, returners ◦ “Manchester now has more rough sleepers than anywhere outside London” – Manchester Evening News, Mar 2015 ◦ Church and Community Night Shelters provide a valuable additional safety net, preventing people from having to sleep on the street

◦ Local need and working in partnership ◦ Cinnamon Network Start up funding ◦ Housing Justice Support ◦ HJ Quality Mark Good Practice- equipping and supporting churches and communities

 A quality standards review arising from partnership collaboration and 25 years of experience supporting shelters  In 2014 Housing Justice (HJ) was awarded Homeless Transition Funding for an accreditation scheme  HJQM supports improvements, creates a system of accountability and awards good and excellent standards in Shelter practice in England and Wales

Shelter In A Pack  The first Shelter handbook/guide for churches and community groups who want some support with setting up a CCNS  Based on the experience and work of Housing Justice, it brings together good practice, policies and procedures for CCNS  It was commissioned by HJ, funded by a grant from the Church Urban Fund and first launched in autumn 2010  It comprises:- 1. a why?, whether? and how? to set up a shelter 2. template docs in the form of a toolkit to be customised for each new project

 Find out what other Charities and Faith groups are doing, i.e. drop- ins, floating support, outreach teams?  Is there a local Christian/Homelessness Forum?  Speak to someone in the housing department in your local Council, e.g. officers with responsibility for commissioning homelessness services. What is their cold weather provision? Is it over subscribed?  What is your Local Authority’s Homelessness Strategy?  Obtain statistical data on local need.  Contact those that are working with the people who would be your potential guests. Seeking the views of potential guests e.g. people using local day centres would be very valuable.  Find out what provision there is, if any, for those with no recourse to public funds, migrants and asylum seekers?  Seek to develop good relationships. If you go ahead with a CCNS project, working in partnership for referrals, support and move on always leads to better outcomes for guests. Projects that have been running for a while will have knowledge of guests including risk factors and particular gaps in local services.  Homeless UK and Homeless London are useful sources of information on local homeless agencies e.g. hostels and day centres. They will be useful contacts to make in relation to local need and also to discuss where the gaps are in current services

 Find out about accommodation and emergency provision in the area; avoid duplication where possible- could you be supporting an existing service that is struggling for volunteers?  The Narrowgate project…  Introducing Martin Crowhurst, Manager

 The Model & Timing  Pilot Year?  Project Coordinator & Team Leaders Roles  Practicalities: facilities, equipment, women, smoking area, recreational facilities, personal washing facilities, laundry, clothing, food  Health & Safety: risk assessments, first aid, fire safety, food hygiene, safeguarding & DBS checks, emergency contacts, alcohol/drugs/violence  Planning Permission and Insurance  Clear Admissions/Referrals Procedure: partnership working, guest move-on, linking in to the shelter network  Monitoring & Evaluating: Get The Data, data spreadsheet

 Meeting with Primary Vision Carriers to ascertain vision, context, potential partners to collaborate with etc.  Meeting of Venue Team Leaders: to establish best practice and practical advice on running a Shelter and establishing values that group works to  Volunteer training that meets the requirements of the HJQM  Volunteer Handbook and V&V Register  Nightly Volunteer Briefings before Opening Up  HJ ‘Introduction to Homelessness’ Training

 Project: Confidentiality Policy, Data protection Policy, Violence Policy, Drugs & Alcohol Policy, Health & Safety Policy, Equal Opportunities Policy, Nightly Risk Assessment, Infectious Disease Leaflet  Project Coordinator/Team Leader: Log Book, Daily Log Sheet, Emergency Contacts, Incident Form, Guest Map, Guest Agreement, Guest Registration, Guest Referral Form, Guest Referral Procedure, Guest Information Consent Form, Guest Feedback Form  Volunteers: Volunteer Registration, Volunteer Information Pack, Volunteer Rota, Volunteer Handbook, Volunteer Agreement, V&V Register, Volunteer Feedback Form

 HJ CCNS Aim: To develop the culture and practise of Christian hospitality to homeless people that leads to personal transformation, thus providing the foundation for movement away from the streets and towards ‘home’  Develop a robust culture of hospitality that can withstand constant challenge  There are wider community benefits  See examples of Tower Hamlets and Islington project aims  See HJ ‘Night Shelter IMPACT Report 2013/14’

 Initial Contact  Preparing for the visit: Pre-QM Questionnaire  The Visit: paperwork evidence review; project evidence review; accreditation checklist  Feedback to QM Partner  Award Standards: accredited excellent practise; accredited safe practise; working towards accreditation; inadequate provision

 Any Questions?  Contact Emma or Mark