Booth Centre’s third redesign

The Booth Centre provides an essential service for people who are homeless. By remaining open we not only protect our community but help to reduce the chance of transmission in the city. With this in mind we have once again adapted our service to give us the best chance of being able to safely remain open to support people, whilst the threat from the new variant of Covid is so severe.

From Monday 11th January we divided our service into two bubbles. Staff, volunteers and people accessing the Centre are assigned to one bubble and will now stay in that bubble until we feel it is safe to relax these measures. We have split the building to accommodate the two bubbles. To access the service people should continue to phone 0161 835 2499 or to come to reception.

Bubble 1: Upstairs
This includes: 

• Pathways into employment; we now run 3 sessions a week to help people find work, gain qualifications and improve their digital literacy. 
• Two socially distanced wellbeing activities of art and drama. 
• Support groups will continue - for example our Women's Group and Resettlement Group. 
• Health, welfare and accommodation support will be provided for the people attending these sessions. 
• Brews, breakfast and lunch will be provided for everyone booked in to attend. 

Bubble 2: Downstairs
This will include: 

• The Severe Cold Weather Hub for the city; getting people into emergency accommodation when the temperature drops below zero. 
• Supporting people with reconnections to the UK and the EU; if people have a home they can safely return to we will help them to reconnect. 
• Applying for settled status for EU nationals. 
• Signposting to essential services. 
• Providing drinks and hot meals for people attending the Centre and providing food bags for people in emergency cold weather provision hotels. 

We are continuing to support people who do not attend the Centre by: 

• Providing practical support for people actively seeking work and devices for them to stay connected. 
• Sending out activity packs including arts materials and resources. We know from the first lockdown how valuable these were in supporting people in temporary accommodation with their mental health. Helping people find a purpose and creative outlet. 
• Supporting people to find new tenancies using online viewings. 
• Providing a telephone and text support service. 

 
How you can help:

• Gift practical items from our Amazon wishlist here or see our needed items page here 
• Donate to support our service here