The Archbishop of Canterbury has highlighted the plight of the homeless this Christmas in a message for the Radio Times in which he warns that this time of year can be an "empty" one for some people.
Justin Welby wrote that, "what can be a full time for some, can equally be an empty time for others: particularly those who have no work, or no home; or perhaps no one to love them."
He added: "The days leading up to Christmas can be both joyful and stressful. We try to be with friends, family and colleagues, to buy gifts and make arrangements – and somehow to relax when there is still work to be done.
"Most people who want to make sense of Christmas have some kind of routine. Clergy households are no different. And in many churches today clergy and lay people share in making lunch for those alone, and give generously of their time."
The Archbishop paid tribute to St Martin-in-the-Fields, in London's Trafalgar Square, known as the "church of the ever open door" where a Christmas appeal for the homeless began in December 1925.
The appeal was taken up by the Radio Times from 1927 and is still running to this day: last year it raised £2.5 million.
Yet Archbishop Welby highlights figures showing that in the year between autumn 2014 and autumn 2015, rough sleeping rose by 30 per cent across England and by 27 per cent in London.
"It is 50 years since Ken Loach's film Cathy Come Home, and this year Loach returned to tell another sobering story in I, Daniel Blake," he wrote. "These are works of fiction but they could be documentaries – you can meet real Daniel Blakes on the steps of St Martin's any day of the week. Sadly homelessness is still with us – sometimes on the streets and sometimes in crowded hostels or shelters."
The Archbishop went on: "Good things happen when we work together. While no one would wish to celebrate 90 years of homelessness, 90 years of good work, trust and kindness is indeed something to shout about."
