Our winter night shelter will be open in January, February and March 2026.
People 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.
How the shelter works.
The shelter is kindly hosted at seven churches in or close to High Wycombe town centre.
Beds, a place to eat and an area for socialising are set up. We use the calm and warm environment of the shelter to work with our guests to help them find a home for good. Everything possible is done to avoid anyone having to return to life on the street.
The guests, staff and volunteers share a hot evening meal and there is time for chatting, playing games, laundry, showers, and resting. Our support workers visit the shelter, as well as welcoming our guests in to our Support Centre on Castle Street during the day, to work 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.
6.00pm Our evening team, including our volunteer driver, arrive to set up the venue, get everything ready and have a briefing.
7pm Shelter guests are welcomed, signed in and allocated a bed. Hot drinks and biscuits are offered.
8pm Everyone sits together and shares a hot home-cooked meal prepared by our volunteer cooks. Our guests can choose to play games, read the paper, chat or get an early night. Some venues offer hot showers and laundry facilities.
10pm A smaller team of volunteers stay overnight, taking it in turns to sleep and supervise.
6.30am The morning team arrive to offer our guests a simple breakfast.
7.30am Guests are offered food and drinks to take away as they leave and the volunteer team pack up.
Volunteers needed!
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. Please offer, if you can, an occasional night shift as these are very hard to fill!
All volunteers must be over 18 years old and will complete a criminal record self-disclosure form.
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.
Next steps...
Sign up to volunteer!
Click here to go to the shelter hub where you can apply to be a volunteer if you aren't one already. Or if you are, log in to CERViS, our volunteer database, and get started on telling us how you want to help at the shelter. And you can check out what training is needed.
Don't delay! Training starts mid-October and we'll be asking you to pledge your shifts in November. The shelter opens its doors on Monday 5 January 2026.
Read on to find out why a shelter is so needed this winter and why your volunteering matters.
Why is the shelter needed?
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 the people who fall into this category; people that would be forced to sleep outside in the winter.
"Without the shelter I’d literally have been sleeping on the street." ~ shelter guest
Every year, hundreds of people become homeless in south Buckinghamshire and it can happen to anyone.
The causes of homelessness are wide ranging and can include:
- Breakdown of a relationship or family
- Increasing housing costs
- People leaving prison or the armed forces with nowhere to go
- People escaping abusive and violent relationships
- Unfair or illegal evictions
- People facing immigration related barriers
- People with poor physical and mental health
- People living in poverty with no savings to fall back on
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 run an all-year round shelter?
While night shelters can never replace a permanent home, they play a vital role in saving lives during the coldest months. Thanks to the generosity of local churches offering their buildings, and the many volunteers who bring warmth and community, our winter shelter provides a safe place to stay at a time of year when it is most needed.
Because these venues are not designed for long-term living, we do not run the shelter all year round. Instead, we focus our resources on making the winter night shelter the very best it can be and, at the same time, helping every guest work towards a more secure future. Our specialist workers take time with each person to understand their situation and their hopes, supporting them to move into a home of their own when the shelter closes.
Alongside this, Wycombe Homeless Connection is working with the council and charity partners to explore options for more permanent accommodation for those who need it. Until then, our priority is to provide safety through the winter and to do all we can to help people move on from homelessness for good.
Do you have more questions? Check out our FAQs and our client and volunteer stories.