Whilst the countdown to Christmas brings spectacular seasonal celebrations to the city, it also means a continuing drop in the temperature and one of the busiest times of year for Liverpool homelessness charity, The Whitechapel Centre.

As the team works hard to stop people from sleeping rough, and also to prevent more residents from losing their homes, fundraising manager Ruth McCaughley tells Your Move about the importance of raising awareness, and how the community can help.

Interview by Natasha young

Tell us a bit about the Whitechapel Centre and its background:

It was set up in 1975, and was actually on Whitechapel in the city centre. Our enablement centre is now in Langsdale Street, which I suppose is the focal point for us, but we do have offices around the corner. Plus a lot of our staff are out and about visiting people and we manage two family hostels as well, so we’ve got several buildings, different projects and our outreach teams are on the streets.

When the temperature drops to a certain level we also open the cold weather shelter. Lots of people worry over the winter about people sleeping out in the cold weather so if they do follow us on social media then we put announcements on our website, Facebook and Twitter as soon as we know the shelter is going to be open. It’s in St Stephen’s Church near the Women’s Hospital, so the church gives us its building overnight and it’s basically somewhere warm. We provide sleeping bags, it’s staffed and we have hot drinks available for people.

What are the main priorities for the Whitechapel Centre at the moment?

We don’t want to see anybody sleeping on the streets of Liverpool but also it’s to prevent people becoming homeless and it’s about enabling people and giving them the skills they need to be able to live in their own properties, to live independently.

How many people, on average, are helped by the Whitechapel Centre?

Last year we worked with 2,605 different individuals throughout the year across all of our different projects, but we’re generally seeing an increase in people coming to ask us for help.

Is something in particular driving that increase?

There’s a mix of things. It’s about changes to the benefit system, relationship breakdowns, mental and physical health, substance misuse – they’re all major issues for people and when those things start going wrong then sometimes, if people aren’t coping, losing their property is one of the consequences. We try and look at the root causes of homelessness because it’s not just about finding someone a property to live in, it’s about looking at the issues and why they’ve got to that point in the first place.

Is it a case of making people aware that it can happen to anyone too?

Yes, absolutely. In fact we’re launching our Christmas appeal and it’s all about how homelessness can happen to anybody. So many of our clients have held down very good jobs and then something has happened so part of our Christmas appeal is giving a list of all the different jobs our clients have had in the past, including barristers, teachers, hairdressers and all sorts of things. It’s about raising awareness that it can happen to anybody but also that there is help available.

What does Christmas mean to the Whitechapel Centre, in terms of donations but also demand for its services?

From a donation point of view it’s fantastic because people really do think about homelessness at Christmas. We see a massive increase in the number of items and the amount of money that gets donated to us, and with the cold weather people also share the ‘No Second Night Out’ number on social media.

From a service point of view though, we want to get people off the streets before it gets really cold so our staff are working hard to get people indoors and Christmas is a very difficult time for families. Sometimes people will go home for Christmas and they’ll get taken back in to the family, but then there’ll be an argument or something will happen and they’re asked to leave again. The Christmas holiday is a very emotional time for a lot of people so the pre-Christmas period is busy for us but then actually January is equally as busy for different reasons.

Christmas is a time when lots of people consider giving to charity, but what support is needed for the Whitechapel Centre all year round?

We have some really lovely supporters all year round so we do keep getting donations throughout the year but it does peak at Christmas. If people just remember the ‘No Second Night Out’ telephone number and call us if they see somebody that’s rough sleeping, even if that’s all they do for us for the rest of the year, that would be brilliant. It’s so that our outreach team knows where it can find people because they do move around the city and get moved on.

Homelessness, unfortunately, doesn’t stop at Christmas – it’s an all year round thing. The more support we can get generally through the year is fantastic.

What are the best ways to help homeless people in the city?

Very directly, call the ‘No Second Night Out’ line if you see somebody rough sleeping.

You can also fundraise for us or make a donation. We rely on food and toiletry donations because we provide breakfasts, meals, hot showers and fresh clothes for people, and volunteering is important as well. Quite a lot of the food preparation and stuff like that is done by volunteers in the centre.

We’re also about to open a charity shop on Allerton Road, so if people don’t want to volunteer in the centre then maybe they could do a few hours in the shop, or come and buy or donate goods there.

There are lots of ways people can get involved, and as much as anything it’s about sharing awareness and knowing there is help available. If people are worried about someone they can give us a call.

When will Whitechapel Centre’s first shop open and what difference is it going to make for the charity?

It will open before Christmas but we haven’t got a definite date yet. It’s going to mostly sell clothing, books and stuff that isn’t suitable for our service users. We make sure our users have got everything they need and then obviously there are some things like party dresses and fur coats that we’re not going to be handing out to them.

Is the Langsdale Street centre a place people are encouraged to visit or bring people to?

Yes, it’s open from 8am until 8pm on weekdays and 8am until 5pm at weekends so people can drop in any time to make donations or service users can drop in if they need help, and nobody needs to make an appointment with us. I suppose the other thing is just that if people want to have a little look around they are welcome to call in.

There seems to be a lot of local businesses and charitable initiatives getting behind the Whitechapel Centre at the moment. Has there been a big boost in awareness in that sense?

We seem to get a lot of support from restaurants and bars and maybe it’s because they’re leaving work late at night and probably seeing people on the streets.

Quite a lot of our supporters tend to be younger people as well, and I don’t know whether they haven’t quite associated yet with some other charities but can easily relate to homelessness, being that they themselves are only a pay packet or two away from not being able to pay their rent. It just rings bells with a lot of people at the moment and I think people are generally struggling, but Liverpool’s a fantastic place that really does show community spirit.

 

For more information about The Whitechapel Centre visit www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk.

To tell The Whitechapel Centre about a rough sleeper in the city, call No Second Night Out on 0300 123 2041.