Welsh churches offer emergency accommodation

The Welsh Evangelical Alliance has praised a new church initiative to provide emergency housing in Swansea.

Swansea Hope and six local churches are working together to ensure that shelter is made available to people in need every day of the week.

The scheme has been launched to save people from having to sleep rough on the streets. They will be offered meals and a bed in a church hall while the local council finds longer-term accommodation for them.

Each participating church is expected to shelter around 12 people.

Project Director Mandy Harvey told the BBC that some users of the service had slept in doorways, stairwells and dumpsters.

“Swansea has some of the highest levels of homelessness in Wales”, she said.

“It provides short term security for those affected but it is still not enough to deal with the ongoing problem.”

The Welsh Government recently reported a 15% increase in the number of households accepted as homeless by local authorities since the third quarter of 2010.

The timely initiative has won the enthusiastic endorsement of the Welsh Evangelical Alliance.

“We are delighted to see churches working together in Swansea to provide food and accommodation for the homeless over the coldest months of the year,” said Jim Stewart, the Alliance’s National Assembly Liaison Officer.

“This is yet another example of Christians working together for the benefit of their communities, alongside initiatives such as Street Pastors, Foodbanks and debt advice centres.

“At a time when attendance in some churches is decreasing, it is heartening to see the energy and volunteer base that these churches – often evangelical - have that enables them to provide such essential services."