Selig (Suffolk) Trust – Case Study
A Christian charity working with local churches and the local community to provide services for people who are homeless.
Public Health England have advised that it is no longer safe to use communal sleeping areas. This means that hundreds of church-based winter night shelters, who have been using church halls as venues, are not able to run. Selig has secured a planning permission for a single site in Ipswich for their shelter and as their permanent, year-round office base. The organisation is liaising with Public Health England and Government advisors on an alternative way of providing shelter. Individual, ventilated bedrooms and individual, ventilated toilets and showers will be required. It will also need to ensure that all floors and surfaces can be cleaned with disinfectant and a hand washing sink will need to be provided close to the entrance of the building. A grant from the Suffolk Coronavirus Community Fund will contribute to these measures which are necessary to control the spread of coronavirus, in order to provide people who are homeless with a safe place to sleep during the winter.
The Selig Suffolk Trust is incredibly grateful for the support that we have received from the Suffolk Community Foundation towards the cost of refurbishing our new building. This funding is allowing us to create a space that will protect the health of our Winter Night Shelter guests, Hope into Action tenants, volunteers, visitors and staff. Our original plans have had to be significantly adapted because of Coronavirus and these changes have doubled the cost of the refurbishment. Thanks to this funding we will be able to continue to provide our services to help those who find themselves homeless. Thanks to one of our wonderful volunteers, one of our tenants is being employed by the building firm who are doing the refurbishment. He is working hard and is enjoying his new role