Hospitality on church floors

Cambridge Churches Homeless Project was set up in February 2013 when four churches (Emmanuel United Reformed, Wesley Methodist, St Andrew’s Street Baptist and Great St Mary’s) opened their doors for one night each to a small group of people who were sleeping on the streets of Cambridge.

The following winter, seven churches (Emmanuel URC, Little St Mary’s, Castle Street Methodist, St Giles, OLEM, Castle End Mission, and St Mark’s) committed to offer accommodation from January to March for ten people when the weather was severe.

For successive winters, the project grew and developed, learning through experience and incorporating good practice and policies from the wider homeless sector. In 2018 the Cambridge Churches Homeless Project became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and began to employ a Coordinator/Project Worker throughout the year.

By the late 2010, CCHP was supporting six local churches and one synagogue to host 15 men a night for the five coldest months of the year. Guests would sleep at each venue one night a week, after sharing a warm meal cooked by volunteers from the community.