A charity serving the homeless population of Glasgow has secured premises in the city for the coldest months of winter.
Homeless Project Scotland has been working towards securing an indoor "safe sanctuary" for those struggling in the city since the organisation was founded in 2019.
Local businessman Barry Cushley has signed over a basement property he owns in Glassford Street for the exclusive use of the soup kitchen.
Charity boss Colin MacInnes said: “We are over the moon, this is what we have been working towards since the very start – creating a safe space for the people who need it most.
“This is 100 per cent going to save lives, it will massively reduce the number of deaths on the streets this winter in Glasgow.
“A safe, warm place for us to work, to feed and look after people, is all we have wanted. And now we have it – we want to create a 24 hour welfare centre to provide shelter, warmth, hot food to homeless and vulnerable people.
Read More: Free Christmas meals for homeless and vulnerable at Glasgow bar
“It’s the first of its kind in the UK and we plan to run this for three months to preserve life in the depths of winter.
“We have this building for the next three months initially, so the coldest, most dangerous time of the year.
“It means the world to us – Barry Cushley has done something no one else in the city has been willing to, he has turned over an area of a building to us to do whatever we need to do to help people."
“The figures are out today showing 244 people tragically died last year on the streets - and it is all the more poignant to see those numbers and know we can make a difference right away.
“It has happened so fast it is hard to believe – I had to phone back after the meeting and ask was it all real.
“It came out of the blue, Barry reached out to Nick at McChuills and next thing we were looking round the building and shaking hands.
“It’s an incredible thing and means so much. We just want to help people and we can now help so many more.”
Barry Cushley, who runs C&C Group, has signed over the basement of the premium building his company owns in Merchant City, for exclusive use by Homeless Project Scotland for the three months – and wants to continue helping beyond that.
Barry said, “It broke my heart to see what the team at Homeless Project Scotland are going through with moving to an area they felt unsafe and now going back to where they’d been chased from. I felt I had to do something.
“I am fortunate to be in a position where I can do something to help Colin and his team right now, to get their people and the families they help off the streets for the coldest months of the year.
Read More: Rise in rough sleepers in Glasgow and Edinburgh ‘could be sign of worse to come’
“We have been able to give them full use of a private, warm, dry, safe and secure area of a building we own. We have agreed it’s initially for the next three months – Colin will have the keys and it’s theirs to operate and manage as they need it.
“We had a very powerful meeting with Colin and Nick from McChuills who I have to thank, he was our point of contact and he has helped us put the whole thing together. Colin is really inspirational and so is Nick. Colin knows what he needs and isn’t afraid to ask for it. I admire that.
“I’ve made mistakes in my life when I was a young idiot but I’m a different guy now and just want to help bring about good things for people who need it – I got a second chance and want to give that to others. It’s vital – everyone deserves a second chance.
“I really want to give something back to the city and this feels like an important thing – I HAD to do this. I couldn’t stand by and see stories of people not being safe when they’re doing such amazing work.
“This is just the beginning for Homeless Project Scotland and my team – there are a lot of ideas already about other ways we can maybe help out in the near future and way beyond that too. This is just the start, I promise.
“And if anyone else can help – please do. I’ve tried to support individuals before but it rarely works, sadly. If you want to really help, work with the people who know how to use that help, like Homeless Project Scotland."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel