Edinburgh charity releases annual report on those sleeping rough
Edinburgh has seen a 40% rise in those needing the help of Bethany’s services over the period 2022-2023, according to an annual report put out by the charity.
Its ‘Rapid Re-accommodation Welcome Centre’ report says 1167 individuals came through its doors in a year, half of whom had only become homeless in the last seven days. On average 69 people came each day, 39 being new faces to the Centre. The majority were males who had nowhere else to stay.
The site at the Haymarket Hub Hotel gives each person an ensuite room and three meals per day, with access to on-site support from their team of around 300 volunteers.
The site has continued to see a wide variety of causes for homelessness including relationship breakdowns, mental health issues as well as drug addiction and domestic abuse. There has been a rise in under-20s seeking help.
Edinburgh charity releases annual report on those sleeping rough
A wide variety of volunteers and charities help fund the project, with it receiving £574,000 in this financial year. Of this, £34,000 came from churches and £64,000 from individual donations.
The full report can be found here: : https://bethanychristiantrust.com/welcome-centre-report-22-23-out-now/. If you would be interested in volunteering for Bethany, you can learn their available positioat https://bethanychristiantrust.com/volunteer/, or if you would like to donate to their work, https://bethanychristiantrust.com/donate/. You can also reach their Edinburgh office by phone on 0131 561 8930.
