Fire station opens doors to homeless people overnight as temperatures drop

People sleeping rough on Nottingham’s streets are being offered emergency shelter in the city’s main fire station as homeless numbers rise.

The City Council opened up London Road fire station to help deal with increased demand as temperatures fell last week.

It's thought that the fire station is among one of the first in the country to open its doors to homeless people, who were offered blankets, warm drinks and toilets.

They were given shelter from Thursday (18th January) until Sunday between 9pm and 7am and were supervised by community protection officers. They were not allowed within the area where fire crews were operating and were not offered beds. Six people attended on the first night, and approximately eight were given shelter each night over the weekend.

The scheme is run by various organisations working across the city including the fire and rescue service, the City Council, and British Red Cross.

Local housing association Framework, which is also involved in the running of the scheme, said it had seen a sharp increase in the number of people it was helping in the city, which was a driver in the project being created. They also said that nationally there is a rough sleeping crisis, and "Nottingham is no different from the rest of the country".

During the last financial year, between April 2016 to April 2017, the charity worked with 638 people in the city centre who were either sleeping rough or in danger of doing so.In just the first seven months of this financial year - between April and October 2017, it had helped 716 people - in just the first seven months of this financial year - between April and October 2017.

Housing Association Framework said that there has been a rough sleeping crisis nationally as well as in Nottingham. Credit: ITV News

Bosses of the programme said the trial was so successful that they now hope to open the fire station every time temperatures drop below freezing.South group manager for the fire service Damien West said:

However, it was acknowledged while the scheme can help temporarily, the issues around homelessness are complicated.

Dean Gillen, chairman of the Fire Brigades Union’s (FBU) Nottinghamshire branch, said: