Bristol’s first 24-hour homeless shelter could open in October

Plans to open Bristol’s first 24-hour homeless shelter look set to be given the go-ahead next week.

Hailed as an opportunity to make a “significant and long-term” difference to the fortunes of some of the city’s most vulnerable people, the proposal would see the former council office building, St Annes House in Brislington, transformed into a new, 30-bed facility.

The shelter will be operated by homeless charity St Mungo’s and will include a female-only dormitory.

This comes as the founder of Feed the Homeless, a grassroots charity that provides hot meals for people on the streets, has appealed for urgent action, saying homelessness in the city has reached crisis point following the temporary closure of two other safe houses.

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Read more: Call for emergency action as homelessness in Bristol reaches crisis point

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Unlike most other shelters in the city, those using St Annes House will not be required to leave in the mornings and will be given access to holistic and practical support during the day.

The shelter will initially be funded by a £600,000 grant from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government.

The proposed ground floor layout of the new shelter. Image from Bristol City Council

Planning officers at Bristol City Council have recommended the plans for approval, despite public concerns that the scheme is being “rushed through” without “proper consultation”.

More than 130 objections to the scheme have been received by the council.

One of the main issues is the speed with which the application is being processed and a lack of public engagement.

Plans to convert the former council office into a homeless shelter were formally announced in July this year, which has left just four months to get the project signed-off before the planned October opening.

As a result of this speedy application process, residents have been left frustrated with what they see as a “lack of information and engagement” from the council.

One resident wrote: “I think that the council should have made more effort to consult local people, if it had done that, many of the objections could have been avoided.

“I have not seen any notices in the local area aside from those produced by concerned residents, this lack of communication is simply not good enough.

“I feel the planning application has been completely rushed through without full and proper consultation with the surrounding neighbourhood.”

St Annes House is due to be transformed into Bristol’s first 24-hour homeless shelter. Photo from Bristol Live

A council spokesman explained: “The reason for the short time scale is because the government has made the funding available to be used for this winter.

“This is so we can have a meaningful impact on reducing rough sleeping in the city by March 2019.”

Other concerns related to noise, drug-use and the location of the shelter in a “quiet and predominantly residential” area of the city.

There is also worry that the area would see a concentration of homeless people if the plans were approved, with another homeless shelter, Wick House, just a mile down the road.

One resident said: “As an area, we have already taken our fair share of homeless people with associated problems. Crime is inevitable where drugs and alcohol are misused and I think this is ill thought out.”

But the council and St Mungo’s have said the project is a “key milestone” for the city’s shelter programme.

The Shelter Programme, which launched in 2015, currently has four night shelters and an additional temporary winter shelter which operates during the coldest period.

Planning permission for the new shelter has been labelled as “temporary”, with approval only being sought for it to open between October 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019, and again for the same period between October 2019 and March 2020.

The application includes no indication that it would be open during the other months of 2019.

Bristol City Council has said that the city faces a growing number of people sleeping rough, in addition to increasing pressure on demand for housing and supported accommodation.

And according to Government statistics released earlier this year, Bristol has recorded the sixth highest number of rough sleepers across local authorities in England, including the London boroughs.

The council’s development control committee is due to make a final decision on the plans at its meeting on Wednesday, September 26.

Kate Wilson is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.

Read more: ‘We want to make a significant, long-term difference to the lives of homeless people’