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photo: A guest enjoys a Christmas dinner at St Cuthbert's Centre in Earls Court

4 March 2020

As Monday night marked the 120th night of this winter’s shelter season, we mark the records made so far.

More people sheltered

Already this winter, 781 guests have found safe, warm shelter with Glass Door. With more than a month of shelters still to go, we've surpassed last year's record of 700 guests sheltered. At this point last winter, Glass Door had provided shelter to 647 guests. 

The winter of 2019-2020 was a relatively warm one, but it will be remembered for its high winds and two storms (Dennis and Ciara). 

Our extended network

Glass Door's ability to shelter more people from the winds and rain was made possible thanks to an extended shelter and volunteer network.

A record number of church and community partners joined together to increase the number of Glass Door shelter venues to 34 this season. With more venues came more volunteers. 1,622 volunteers registered this year - the highest number in the charity's history.

More demand

Demand was also up this winter, with 1,792 individuals turning to Glass Door in the first 120 days of the shelter season, which began on 4 November. Last year, 1,566 individuals had turned to Glass Door over the same time period. 

Glass Door compiles and verifies these numbers every 30 days. Updates will be released at the end of the shelter period. 

Says Lucy Abraham, Glass Door chief operating officer: 

Life is incredibly challenging if your primary concern is where to find a safe place to sleep and a meal. We're thankful to all our supporters, partners, volunteers and staff for helping to meet these basic human needs. Working together, we are supporting more people falling through the cracks in our communities.


If you would like to work towards a future where no one has to sleep rough in London, join the Glass Door community.

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