THE manager of a night shelter for rough sleepers which will close tonight has said the project may have saved lives this winter.

Brighton and Hove city council was praised for finding a room, in the council-owned Brighton Centre, to act as temporary night-time accommodation for up to 30 rough sleepers from December 10 last year.

But while 23 homeless men and women will leave the Brighton Centre for the last time tomorrow morning, the city council cannot confirm whether it will operate a similar project next winter.

However, £165,000 has been allocated to spend on rough sleepers next winter and the council says it is committed to doing something.

Karen Leenders, who usually manages the New Steine Mews Shelter, has been working as the night shelter manager.

On a tour yesterday she told The Argus: “There’s been a real sense of family.

“People have had a real chance to get to know each other, and their relationship with volunteers has been really important.

“Obviously I’m concerned for the individuals leaving the shelter, but we should remember services are still in place.

“I think it’s certainly possible we’ve saved lives this winter,”

The shelter has operated from 7pm until 8am each day, and unlike at the emergency bad weather weather accommodation the council provides when it gets dangerously cold, the people who have stayed have been allowed to leave their belongings inside if they will be returning.

Some of the centre’s ‘clients’ have stayed through the entire duration of its operation.

Others have come and gone, recommended during the day by outreach workers from established charities St Mungo’s and First Base.

If a rough sleeper has needed a bed, and if there is one available, Karen has allocated them a bed - as long as their risk assessment does not show a history of violence or aggression towards staff.

Karen said: “We’ve been careful to make sure we know a little bit about the people that come in.”

The shelter has been staffed in the evenings by two employees, two volunteers and two security guards, although security incidents have been mercifully rare.

Of the 102 people who stayed at the shelter, only four were evicted because their behaviour was unsafe for themselves or others. Others have left for more positive reasons: 17 have found accommodation in a hostel, six have reconnected with friends or family, three have been given emergency accommodation and three have been placed in detox programmes.

Each evening the shelter’s clients have been given a hot meal, which has been provided by charity Friends First as well as dozens of businesses and restaurants.The Grand Hotel cooked Christmas dinner for all the shelter’s residents.

The average occupancy has been 22, just 73 per cent of capacity.

But a council spokeswoman said the average had been dragged down by the two brief periods in which the shelter had to move to a different location due to prior bookings at the Brighton Centre.

During those periods take-up by the homeless was much lower. Last night and tonight, 23 people are staying there.

They will have to leave in the morning after their final night, but 13 have “move on” plans in place. These could include being on the waiting list for temporary accommodation. Of the other ten, seven have no local connection so by statute the council cannot provide them with housing locally, although shelter has been provided at the centre for non-locals while the shelter has been in operation.

Two of the 23 are new to rough sleeping and discussing their options with outreach workers, and one is an exceptional case.

Councillor Clare Moonan, the council’s lead for rough sleeping, praise the shelter’s staff and volunteers and said of the future: “We’ll use all the experience we’ve gained from the shelter at the Brighton Centre to improve on what we do in the future.

“We’re dedicated to helping all those sleeping rough in the city and the winter shelter was a new way to add to the support.”

But Green councillor Tom Druitt said: “Unpaid volunteers are out every night giving people shelter in a bus and local churches; yet the council, with huge resources at its disposal, cannot find a property in the whole city that can be used to keep the Council’s night shelter going just for a few more weeks. It’s a disgrace.”

The council will now evaluate the project ahead of making plans for winter 2018/19.

A VIEW INSIDE THE SHELTER

THE Brighton Centre has played host to some extraordinary moments in its forty years, from Margaret Thatcher telling a shellshocked Conference that “all attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail” in 1984 to the puppet masters of War Horse dancing on stage last month.

But for the last three months, a small conference room - around the back, on the first floor - has been the setting for smaller, more personal stories.

More than 100 people with nowhere else to go have stayed warm here, slept here, had a hot meal here.

Some have used it as a chance to get off drugs and into rehab, others have been moved into temporary hostel accommodation.

Walking around it now, between camp beds and sleeping bags, looking at newspapers and toothpaste tubes and shopping bags, you can get a sense that in a small way this room has been not just a shelter but has been made a home, by some who do not have one.

In one corner of the room, a black sheet cordons off the private space used by the female clients. The duvet on one of the beds is a bright pink quilt.

Around another bed, one client has laid out his toiletries out on the floor like a well-ordered bathroom cabinet: Listerine and toothbrush, then body wash and deodorant.

Night shelter manager Karen Leenders explained: “That’s been really important actually, a lot of client have said how much it means to be able to leave stuff here and come back to it.”

The council is now reviewing the successes and failures of the night shelter in order to come up with a plan for next winter.

Meanwhile the city will need to decide how Brighton and Hove - which has the greatest number of rough sleepers per capita outside London - finds the right balance between providing compassion and not exacerbating the problem.

Andy Winter, chief executive of Brighton Housing Trust, said: “I don’t go with the idea that services for homeless people act as a ‘pull’ for others to come to the city.

“But I would be concerned if an open-ended commitment was made that anyone arriving in Brighton will be accommodated.

“Brighton and Hove is full and the housing is increasingly unaffordable.

“We need to discourage people coming to the city seeking accommodation.

“Their hopes and aspirations will not be achieved here.”