Night shelter opens up to help Telford homeless

A new emergency night shelter is being opened to combat the increasing number of people sleeping rough in Telford.

The number of homeless people in the borough of Telford & Wrekin has soared by 55 per cent last year, according to the organisers of the Salvation Army KiP Project, which is based in Wellington. And these figures have continued to rise during the first three months of 2012.

But project workers are now able to refer people aged 26-65 to The Night Inn – emergency accommodation run by local community enterprise Maninplace.

The Night Inn is able to offer six beds, but hopes more funding will come in to allow it to provide accommodation for more people.

Alan Olver, from Maninplace, said: "Having delivered the severe weather provision for rough sleepers in Telford & Wrekin for five years we were conscious of the ongoing need for nightly emergency accommodation.

"We have opened the Night Inn for the older age group and are aware of the lack of provision for young homeless people with the closure of Wesley House in Oakengates, but there is a commitment from partner organisations to work to see a provision brought into being for young people."

Steve Watkins, lead worker at the KiP project, said: "The numbers of people coming through our door declaring themselves as homeless continued to rise.

"In total we had 61 individuals register for homelessness, asking for help in finding accommodation. That is 11 more than the same period a year ago."

Of the people who asked for help in the first three months of the year, almost 45 per cent were sleeping rough; a third were sleeping on a sofa; eight were women, and four were aged 18-20.

The latest figures reported the biggest reason for people coming through its doors was homeless due to relationship breakdown.