More of St Albans’ rough sleepers will now have a warm bed and a roof over their heads during periods of bad weather thanks to four self contained “pods” installed within the grounds of Emmaus Hertfordshire.
This scheme is being run by homeless charity Open Door as part of its Winter Beds Project. This project provides extra beds for St Albans’ rough sleepers in the coldest weather, when Open Door’s 12 beds are already allocated. However, this year COVID restrictions prevented Open Door providing these extra beds for the winter in its usual venue.
With the support of St Albans City and District Council, Open Door obtained a £32,000 Government grant from its Winter Transformation scheme to build self-contained accommodation which have been constructed within our community in St Albans. These pods are self-contained units with a bed, toilet and showering facilities.
Lucy Gaygusuz for the Winter Beds Project said: “Winter Transformation Funding which has enabled us to open the Winter Beds Project in St Albans for the fourth year in a row.
“We have been working tirelessly to make sure that this year we can offer people who would otherwise be rough sleeping a safe, self-contained, COVID-secure space to sleep away from the streets.
“The Winter Beds Project has always been a volunteer led service and this year, despite the challenging circumstances we all find ourselves in, we have an amazing group of dedicated volunteers who are all ready to make sure no one in St Albans has to sleep rough this winter.”
This project has been supported by a number of local businesses and organisations including The Hygiene Bank Harpenden & St Albans and Morgan Sindall Construction who kindly provided materials, skips and plumbing for the project.