Our winter night shelter will be open in January, February and March 2025.
People who are living on the street in south Buckinghamshire, and who have no other options, will be offered shelter.
Read on to find out how it works, what you can do to help and why it is needed.
The shelter is kindly hosted at seven churches in or close to High Wycombe town centre.
We set up beds, a place to eat and an area for socialising. We use the calm and warm environment the shelter provides to work with some of our guests to help them find a home for good and do everything we can to avoid anyone having to return to life on the street.
Guests will be able to get their laundry done and have showers. The guests, staff and volunteers share a hot evening meal and there is time for socialising, laundry, showers, resting. Our support workers visit the shelter to work with our guests on their situations and opportunities.
A night volunteer team makes sure everyone gets a good night’s sleep. The morning team helps guests wake up, have breakfast, and set off for their day. The team clear up the venue.
It takes 300 people to put on our night shelter including WHC staff and volunteers from across our community. Training is provided on important skills and procedures like safeguarding and health and safety. More specific training is offered where it is needed e.g. shift leaders and cooks.
All our volunteers need to be over 18 years old and will complete a criminal record self-disclosure form and depending on the role may undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
As well as roles at the shelter venues, there are daytime jobs that need doing. If being up late isn’t for you, have a look at our laundry and driver roles.
Please offer, if you can, an occasional night shift as these are very hard to fill!
Have a look at our night shelter hub for details on roles, locations of the shelter venues, training.
From there you can also apply to be a volunteer if you aren't one already. Or if you are, you can log in to our volunteer database, and get started on telling us how you want to help at the shelter.
Don't delay! Training starts in November and we'll be asking you to pledge your shifts in November and the shelter will be opening its doors on 6th January.
You can also read on to find out why a shelter is so needed this winter and why your volunteering matters.
Homelessness is high in Buckinghamshire, and despite the Council being required and able to help some people with emergency and temporary accommodation, too many people fall outside the help they can offer.
That's where we come in. We offer shelter to people the system fails; people that would be forced to sleep outside in the winter.
The causes of homelessness are wide ranging loss or lack of a job
This is all happening while there is a severe shortage of affordable housing and an increasingly unforgiving welfare system.
If that's the case, why don't we we run an all-year round shelter?
While shelters can be stepping stones to more permanent accommodation they can also be places where people get stuck. Even in the best ones, people can struggle to have privacy and they aren't places where it is easy to have family life.
For people who suffering trauma and ill health, often caused by homelessness, sticking to the rules of hostels, living in close quarters with other people... all of that can make it hard to stay in shelters and people often 'bounce' in and out of these places, causing further harm.
They absolutely have a place and winter shelters save lives, but as a small charity making a big impact, we focus our resources on homelessness prevention and providing support to help people find a home for good.
At our winter night shelter, every guest will be offered help to dig into their situation by our specialist workers who will help them in their unique situation, finding out their hopes for their lives.
A person might be newly homeless and don't know what their options are, or are too frightened to ask for help. See below for what you can do to help.
Not everyone who is offered a place in the shelter will take it, often for complex reasons it can be hard for people not in their situation to understand. But we respect an individual's right to choose and will continue to work with everyone we can to bring hope, help and a home.
Also, some people you see on the street may not be homeless but might say they are. We know some people say they are on the street because they can't afford shelter. Our shelter, and all local emergency accommodation for people who are found to be homeless is free; there is no charge at all, no nightly fees or deposits.
If you see someone you think is under 18, or is an adult in immediate danger or needing urgent medical care, call 999.
If you are concerned about an adult you have seen sleeping rough, please contact Streetlink via their website. They are a national organisation that gathers and passes on timely and accurate information to local groups like us about people who are sleeping rough so that the person can be offered support.
Visit the Streetlink website to help connect a person sleeping rough to local services. Or you can contact us
All local emergency shelter is free. If someone asks you for money for an emergency or shelter place, please tell them about us, or report to the police, Streetlink or us as above.
Giving cash might help some people in the very short term and we encourage people to view every person they see who they think might be homeless as a human who needs and is entitled to a home to build a live and thrive.
However, giving cash to people on the street won't end homelessness. If it did, it would have worked by now. Ensuring we know about people you're worried about, so we can get them tailored help and any support they are entitled, to is a great way to bring their homelessness to an end.
And don't forget, for every one person you see living on the street who is homeless, 99 other people are hiding away for their safety, sleeping on a sofa, riding the night bus to avoid being alone in the dark, living in a squat, or in some form of emergency and temporary accommodation. That's not right and by supporting our work, you can help bring homelessness to an end.