Homeless people will be able to access overnight help throughout the year in Weston-super-Mare thanks to a groundswell of public support.
Somewhere to Go opens three days a week in St John's Hall in the Boulevard to give a hand up to rough sleepers and disadvantaged vulnerable adults, with a hot meal and access to housing and drug and alcohol charities.
In November it trialled a night assessment centre with 10 beds, acting a stop gap for homeless individuals who had shown they were committed to getting back into housing.
Thanks to its efforts, 15 people now have a permanent roof over their heads.
The trial only lasted until March but charity leaders said homelessness does not end just because it gets warmer.
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They now have permission to open the night assessment centre throughout the year with up to 14 beds - and they have ambitions to grow further still.
Somewhere to Go trustee Barry Edwards said: “This is great news. The need is there. We had 50 comments and not one objection - people have seen how well it’s been run and how good the outcomes have been.
“We have the opportunity to open the centre for longer periods per day and more days per week.
“The ultimate ambition is to have a hub that incorporates everything you may need if you are in homelessness, rough sleeping or deprivation - a one-stop shop where you can everything on one site.”
He said the support for homeless people used to be disjointed and it was “amazing” what they had achieved in the last year, adding: “You will see tremendous change over the next 12 months.”
The centre currently closes at 8am. It opens at 10.30am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but Mr Edwards said the time in between can mean that the clients miss appointments - they are focused on where their next meal, or their next fix, is going to come from.
“Wraparound services have to come to them,” he added. “It’s as simple as that.
“You can’t take someone off the street and straight into a flat. They need support.”
Mr Edwards described the accommodation in the centre as one big dorm room, like a youth hostel. Everyone is in together. Currently there are 12 clients and two are women.
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The centre is somewhere they can shower and get a change of clothes.
Mr Edwards said: “It really is somewhere we can get people back into a steady lifestyle again.
“People stay about five weeks, which is longer than we anticipated. One person has been here from the beginning.
“There’s no limit on how long people can stay but we give them a contract expecting them to actively look for housing and engage with services.
“It’s not alternative accommodation - it’s a stop gap.”
Somewhere to Go has been providing a service in St John's Hall in Boulevard for more than 20 years. It has two nurses with 80 clients on the books, and also regularly feeds some 40 people. Coming to the soup kitchen may be the only hot meal they have.
The centre will be opening for more days each week from the summer, when the necessary staffing is in place.
Approving the application, North Somerset Council planning officers said charity provides a much needed facility.
