The Shelter Trust can house a maximum of 105 people per night at its four sites in the Island but this year the organisation says it has seen a rise in the number of people requiring its support.
Now, just days after the end of Homelessness Awareness Week, the manager of the charity’s first-step emergency housing and the vice-chairman of the charity have said people must be better educated about what it means to be homeless.
On average the charity, which runs three hostels and 17 fully furnished flats, supports 400 people a year. However, between January and September this year it supported 406 individuals.
Stuart Campbell, who manages Aztec House – the Island’s only first-step emergency housing provision, said: ‘The total number of people we have seen is higher this year but people are staying for shorter periods of time.
‘Some people might just come for a couple of days and need a bed and nothing else and then they will move on. We have seen more of that this year. Then we will have people who will go through all stages with us and into our independent living accommodation.’
The charity also runs a day service where individuals can collect food parcels, get clothes cleaned and have a hot meal even if they are not living at any of the four sites.
The Shelter Trust receives 60 per cent of its annual income from the States, with rent and fundraising then making up the rest of the money the charity needs to provide its services. Its clients pay £129.50 per week to stay at Aztec House.
Guy Le Maistre, vice-chairman and trustee of the charity, said: ‘There is a lack of understanding among States Members about how many people we support and the full extent of what we do.
‘People know we work with the homeless community but that’s about as far as their understanding goes.’
Mr Campbell added: ‘The public will have a very skewed idea of what a homeless person is. They will see something on TV and think that is what a homeless person is like but it’s often not the case at all. You only see what you want to see and people can only educate themselves.’
