Homeless people will still be able to find shelter in the city in the countdown to Christmas after a Swansea centre said to have been plagued by flooding problems found a new home.
Swansea’s Homeless Sanctuary has closed the doors of its High Street centre and instead moved to Creature Sound in Bethesda Street to make a new start and ensure that people sleeping rough have the crucial support they need.
They will be based on the bottom floor of the site.
Debra Ash revealed the move on in a statement on the group’s Facebook page and said: “I’m sorry that we have been quiet on the page but as you all know we have been struggling to keep the centre open for various reasons.
“Then we had the flooding, we thought 'enough is enough'. So we took the decision to close the centre.
“But Kaz (Chambers) from Creature Sound has kindly offered us the downstairs room at Creature.
“So this last three weeks have been hectic, but we have now cleared the centre, and everything has been moved down to Creature.”
How to help the homeless:
She added: “It is going to take a little while before we have everything in place there, so if you could just bear with us.
“Your continued support is very much appreciated.”
The drop-in centre, which offers support to the most vulnerable in the city has suffered with financial problems and an urgent appeal for cash was launched back in September.
An “emergency fundraiser” event took place on Friday, September 13 at Creature Sound, to try to raise money for the sanctuary and featured music from Goa trance and house DJs Craig James, Kevin Lane and Leigh Sizey.
And people dug deep into their pockets.
The focus at the new base will be firmly on helping homeless people rather than offering a raft of services at the site, which has showers for both male and female users and space for them to relax away from the streets.
Debra said: “We are going to concentrate on the homeless and rough sleepers.
“The same services, such as sleeping bags and clothing support, will be available and there will be somewhere to go and sit in the warm.
“We will see where we go from there.”
Calls are being made for people to snap up community shares to help ensure the future of the site for the homeless and musicians playing in the city.
Anyone wishing to donate items should get in touch with Debra on 07916 719676.
