THERE will be no official winter night shelter or Overnight Welcome centre in Glasgow this year.

For years Glasgow City Mission operated eh night shelter out of the Lodging House Mission premises in the east end.

In recent years it switched to the Overnight Welcome Centre, based in the city centre where people could turn up and be allocated a space in one of the hotels used for homeless people.

Instead, this year the City Mission Winter Project will focus on trying to get people out of hotels and into settled accommodation.

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Mission, said: “The number of people sleeping rough in Glasgow is now approximately 30. This is a smaller number than most large cities in the UK including Edinburgh. Therefore, this winter, we are turning our attention to the unacceptably high number of 1,400+ people stranded in hostels, B&Bs and hotels in Glasgow.

“To tackle this challenge, we are growing our Housing Settlement Officer (HSO) team to advocate for as many of the 1,400+ as possible. Our HSOs support individuals with moving from temporary to settled housing.”

The HSO team meet people at their accommodation, get full details of their situation and then liaise with the appropriate authorities to move their case forward.

The hope is it will provide better long-term outcomes and reduce their need for future emergency accommodation, and increases the capacity to provide beds to those who urgently need them.

By carrying out this important work, our HSOs disrupt the vicious cycle that can trap individuals between different forms of temporary accommodation,and help them to secure greater stability in their lives.

Despite there being no official OWC the charity will still work with people who turn up at the centre and have nowhere to stay.

The spokesperson added: “Our team will also continue to work hard with guests who have no accommodation for the night, to find a safe space for them to stay.”

The City Mission said the shift in the focus will be more targeted and effective in responding to the housing crisis.

The spokesperson added: “We trust it has the potential to help far more people than our previous projects and ensure that the number of homeless people in temporary accommodation reduces.”

A spokeswoman for Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “We are working with the City Mission and other partners in the city to deal with the challenges that the winter brings for people affected by homelessness. This will be under continuous review.”