We’re four months into our Night Shelter Season – Here is what we are seeing on the frontline

Glass Door has been operating emergency winter night shelters for over 20 years. We run the UK's largest network of night shelters for people experiencing homelessness.   

We launched our emergency night shelter service on Monday 6th November, offering 105 spaces per night across three shelters in West & Southwest London. We have 45 shelter staff, 425 volunteers and a year-round Casework and Operations Team delivering our shelter provision seven days a week in each of the three rotating circuits. We offer a safe and warm place to sleep, a hot and nutritious meal and light breakfast every day for the five coldest months of the year.

6th March 2024 marked four months of our night shelter service. Over the four months: 

• We have received 1,371 referrals 

• 461 people have stayed in our shelters 

• 84% of people who stayed in the shelters were previously sleeping rough 

• The average length of stay has been 24 nights 

• The age breakdown of people who have stayed in our shelters has been

  • 40% under the age of 35

  • 32% aged 35-49

  • 28% aged 50+ 

• 323 shelter guests (70%) have engaged with a caseworker 

• Successful outcomes include 73 guests moved to more permanent housing, 19 connected with health services and 4 helped to secure ID

As March is Women’s Month at Glass Door, we would also like to highlight some numbers from our women's services. So far this night shelter season:

• 192 women have stayed in our shelters, including 177 in the women’s shelter circuit 

• 57 women have attended our women's drop-in service

• 61% of women referred to our shelters preferred to stay in the single-gender shelter, contrasted to 73% of men who had no preference

We now enter the final month of our night shelter season, and this will be the last update on our shelters before they close. 

Due to the incredibly high level of demand this season, we have had to close referrals for men several times, but on a positive note we were able to re-open them this week! 

We are also very happy to have supported 38 women who stayed in our night shelters to move to more stable accommodation.