Haringey homeless shelter scheme appeals for help to avoid ‘early closure’

A desperate plea has gone out for “people who have a heart” to donate to one of Haringey’s only night shelters – which is at risk of closing early without their help.

Haringey Churches Winter Shelter may be forced to turn away the 12 people it currently provides warm beds and hot meals for from the new year if donors do not come forward quickly, organiser Lia Leonis warned.

The shelter, which uses a network of Haringey churches to offer somewhere for homeless people to sleep, costs £1,000 a week to run but is struggling to raise enough to continue into March as intended.

Ms Leonis said: “It is particularly bad this year – we have got funding until Christmas and then I do not know what we will do.”

Her plea comes as charity Shelter revealed Haringey families are the third most likely in the country to have their homes repossessed or be evicted – with fears this could increase when the housing benefit cap comes in next year. Already, about 50 people are sleeping at The Highway of Holiness community church in Tottenham, which operates its own shelter.

Ms Leonis said: “There has been an increase in people who are very recently homeless due to losing their jobs, people who have had their rent put up on them. The phone does not stop ringing.”

She added: “Personally, I think when you hear about something which doesn’t affect you and is never likely to affect you, you keep it at arm’s distance. When you usually walk past somebody in the street who is freezing cold and probably has an empty stomach and is saying, ‘Could you please help me?’ this is where the winter shelter comes into its own.”

Housing Justice’s Sally Leigh added: “We heard five people died in Haringey because of the cold last winter, so this is a matter of life or death.”

Ms Leonis said: “We are really looking for people who want to sponsor £10 for a person to have breakfast and dinner and a sleeping bag for the night, people who will sponsor £25 for a week of evening meals. We need people to sponsor £100 for heating overnight at a venue. We need people to come forward who have a heart to sponsor a week at the shelter, which is £1,000.”

To help, contact All People, All Places at info@allpeopleallplaces.org or 07538 331521

Story from Broadway Ham and High