Bethany Christian Trust to expand shelter service amid record high homeless deaths

Last season, Bethany’s Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre protected a person from sleeping on the streets a total of 11,583 times. The Centre opened this year in its new location at ELS House, Gorgie, on the 1st October, and has already welcomed 52 men and women and provided life-saving support, both in the moment of crisis and beyond.

Sara, a guest at the Centre last year, said: “At the Welcome Centre I had food, a warm bed and a clean room… I felt really safe. Otherwise, I would have been on the streets.”  

Following this year’s World Homelessness Day, Bethany Christian Trust has asked people to pause and reflect on the shocking statistics of homeless deaths.

Welcome Centre manager, James Milligan, underlined the need for a personalised and long-term strategy to tackling this crisis.

He said: “The Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre is a lifesaving service available to people who are without a place to call home. As long as there are people in need of this service, Bethany Christian Trust will do all it can to deliver help and support to those who are in crisis… The Welcome Centre will continue to offer respect, dignity, warmth, support, food, community, and hope.”