Street Homeless organisation Elim Connect and Fair Housing for Frome have announced plans to reinstate the Zero Nights Shelter in Frome this winter. Working together with Frome Town Council this will be the third consecutive year that a shelter will be provided locally.

The Zero Nights scheme provides shelter for homeless people when the temperature is predicted by the Met Office to drop below zero for three consecutive nights

The objectives of the Zero Nights scheme has clear objectives

1) to avoid preventable death and illness, reaching out with kindness and compassion

2) to connect rough sleepers with agencies who can assist them getting access to housing

2) to raise awareness of homelessness within Frome, helping people to become better informed and motivated to help during what will be a par-ticularly difficult winter this year.

The Zero Nights team are looking for volunteers again as in previous years and an announcement regarding how people can get involved will be made in the next few days. In previous years the people of Frome re-sponded in large numbers receiving training so that they could help staff the shelter when it was open.

The current situation with COVID-19 doesn't help the homeless situation and the Zero Nights team will be ensuring that all precautions necessary are taken to ensure the safety of the homeless and volunteers involved. Since the lockdown period earlier in 2020 the situation for some renters who have lost income and struggled with housing costs has become precarious. The temporary ban on evictions has come to an end and Frome will be no different from other towns in England with some tenets facing potential homelessness over the next few months.

Whilst details on this winters Zero Nights scheme are still being finalised and a call for volunteers will be made soon anyone interested in helping can contact Fair Housing for Frome by sending an email to [email protected]