Bethany Christian Trust homeless shelter to operate year-round after securing Edinburgh Council funding
The Welcome Centre on Gorgie Road holds emergency accomodation for 64 households
A community service hub providing emergency accommodation for people sleeping rough over winter has secured funding to continue its service all year round.
The Welcome Centre, run by Bethany Christian Trust, operates out of the council-owned ELS House on Gorgie Road and had been due to finish operations at the end of April.
However, City of Edinburgh Council has now announced that the service will be supported through until March 2027 with services available year-round.
The Welcome Centre currently holds accommodation for 64 households who have been sleeping rough in Edinburgh.
Those who use the operation are given three meals per day and are given support from Bethany Christian Trust staff, and volunteers. Council officers also provide support to help find further accommodation.
Alasdair Bennett, Chief Executive, Bethany Christian Trust, said: “It is a desperate circumstance to face the prospect of sleeping rough, and worse still to experience the trauma and harms involved.
“The Welcome Centre is a service borne out of adversity to relieve suffering and meet long-term needs when people have nowhere else to stay.
“I am deeply grateful to the many volunteers, supporters, churches, and our charitable and statutory partners who together enable this life-saving work, sharing a commitment to offer not only shelter and sustenance, but hope, dignity and the opportunity for a new start.
Mr Bennett added: “We are very grateful to the City of Edinburgh Council for making this significant next step possible, and for the shared commitment to provide both immediate support and pathways out of homelessness all year round. As someone said to me recently: ‘when is it ever warm enough to be homeless?’
“Finally, I want to thank our staff team. Their dedication to love and service is inspiring. In the last 30 weeks alone, 400 people have been accommodated, supported and helped to move forward, each knowing that they are valued and cared for.”
The funding commitment was confirmed following a decision by the Finance and Resources Committee on April 28.
Councillor Tim Pogson, housing, homelessness and fair work convener, said: “Bethany Christian Trust provides an essential service for people facing rough sleeping in Edinburgh and over the last three decades has helped thousands of people to secure a warm and safe place to sleep, particularly over the colder winter months.
“We don’t want people to have to sleep rough at any time of the year though, so I’m really pleased that we’ll be able to keep the Welcome Centre open throughout 2026.
“Reducing homelessness, and where possible preventing it in the first place, is central to our Housing Emergency Action Plan, alongside ambitious plans to increase the city’s housing supply, making sure everyone has somewhere to live.”