For Peter, the Bed Every Night scheme has meant everything.
He is convinced that he would be dead if it wasn’t for staff at the centre in north Manchester.
“If you’re living rough, you’re just surviving. Whereas this is a safe environment,” he says.
Peter is one of 38 people currently bedding down in rooms at the centre - a former children’s home which has been converted to accommodate rough sleepers.
He says it has saved his life.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham today said that the government should declare a national homelessness emergency.
Mr Burnham described the problem as a ‘humanitarian crisis’ during a speech to mark two years in the job today.
He insisted that the crisis is fixable and said: “People in doorways is in danger of being accepted as just an inevitable and unchangeable fact of modern life.
"It can’t be allowed to happen.”
For 59-year-old Peter, years spent sleeping in doorways has taken its toll.
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The A Bed Every Night (ABEN) scheme, he says, is changing his life.
Things started to spiral for Peter when his wife died of cancer in 2008.
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“I started drinking and everything went pear-shaped and the drinking took me over,” he says.
“To get out I came to Manchester to a big city but it didn’t work out. That was in 2011 and I was drinking heavily at the time. I got a key worker who was trying to find me somewhere to live.”
Over the years Peter has used several hostels and had help from charities across Greater Manchester. But he has struggled to stay sober.
He is now suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome - a form of alcohol-related brain damage.
“On certain days I forget appointments, or if I go somewhere I find it hard to get back,” he explains.
He is also dealing with the recent death of his daughter and issues with Universal Credit.
But despite these struggles, Peter says the ABEN shelter has encouraged him that he can improve his life and move on.
“I’ve not had a drink for a few weeks now,” he says.
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“The staff have been super. Without them I wouldn’t be here now. They can relate to what it’s like out there. I would probably be dead by now rather than sitting here talking to you if it wasn’t for them.
“When my drinking escalated that was me escaping reality.
“I’m not confident in myself sometimes. I’m too soft in the heart and the head - I need to learn to say ‘no’.
“Now I do things to keep myself occupied. I muck in with the cleaning up here and cook.
“I don’t want to go back to that predicament. I have had enough of doorways and sleeping bags.”
The centre is run by The Riverside Group, the third largest provider of homelessness services in the UK, which coordinate A Bed Every Night across the whole of Greater Manchester.
Area manager Eleanor Watts says the centre in Manchester is unique because it has individual rooms. It takes on men, women and dogs and the individual rooms means that couples, or friends, who arrive together can be placed together.
At the site people can wash their clothes, cook a meal and everyone is expected to muck in to keep the place tidy. It’s been so successful that organisers are currently looking for another site.
Eleanor says: “We have moved on 48 people and they were all rough sleepers. That’s 48 people off the streets of Manchester. It’s never been done before on this scale.”
She added: “Greater Manchester has a proud history of doing things differently and of pulling together when people are in need and at times of crisis. The Mayor’s office and the Combined Authority have created a scheme which is seeing us all work together to a common goal to end homelessness.
“Now we’re looking forward to working together again to make A Bed Every Night an even greater success over the next 12 months.”
Service manager Gary George runs the shelter with a team of six workers who have helped dozens of people to find a fixed address as a more permanent home.
“This is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve had in my career,” he says.
“We run a nice house here and show people that we’re here to support them. We have changed people’s lives but those people have to want to change their lives.
“We can give them all the help and support that we can but at the end of the day it’s down to that particular individual and how much they want to change.”
Former rough sleeper Mark agrees.
The 48-year old has been staying at the shelter for two weeks and not feels optimistic for the first time in a while.
He says: “When I came here I felt relieved because I had somewhere to stay.
“I was in a squat in Eccles but I left that, then I moved to another place run by a charity before I came here.
“My last stint I was sleeping rough for about five weeks. It’s hard, man. Going to sleep is the hardest thing. It’s just hard to survive.
“I’ve been on the streets on and off for about 30 years and I know the streets better than a lot of people. But obviously I would rather be inside than outside.
“Being here is a weight off your mind, you’re not worrying and you’re not having to worry about where to go to sleep. It’s safer than being on the street.
“I’m waiting for a referral to move me onto another place, to another hostel where I will be a priority for getting a permanent place. Then I want to get a job.”
He adds: “Out here it’s very quiet - it’s like being in the countryside. If you’re in the city centre it’s really busy. Here it’s out of the way and there’s time to think.”
