The Winter Night Shelter project will offer a complementary service to the activities of housing support service Haven; Home, Safe, chief operations officer Trudi Ray said.
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Churches will provide a meal, a place to sleep and dignity to homeless people in Bendigo during the winter months as part of the project.
Ms Ray said the aims of the Winter Night Shelter project were "admirable".
Haven has met with the Winter Night Shelter team as an interested party. The organisation will make referrals to the shelter when they meet suitable candidates.
The Winter Night Shelter will be another alternative for people who are homeless during extreme weather conditions, Ms Ray said.
The project then aims to link the guests into other services and further case management.
"It's about providing a bit of a roof over their head for the night and then making those referrals into services that do that all the time," Ms Ray said.
"Bendigo gets so cold and so hot. In the months where extreme conditions prevalent we are certainly concerned about people sleeping rough because of the added health issues that presents."
Organisers of Bendigo Winter Night Shelter have spoken about the dignity they hope to confer on guests.
Ms Ray said meeting people, having a warm place to sleep at night, and talking with volunteers would provide dignity.
She gave the example of a service Haven offers in Melbourne in which people volunteer to just chat to those who are experiencing homelessness.
Mr Say said services like this mean people are not entrenched in their homelessness.
"What our clients are telling us is that provides them with dignity because they're not having to talk about their circumstances and their trauma," Ms Ray said.
Ms Ray said sleeping rough was on the rise.
Haven provided emergency accommodation for 93 people between June 1 and August 31 in 2018.
Newly-launched outreach service HeyVan has seen 28 rough sleepers in its first two weeks on the roads around Bendigo.
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Elspeth Kernebone
Accident brought me to journalism, but every day convinces me again that strong media is more important than ever. After a starting off as the sole reporter in a tiny NSW town, I’m loving the teeming metropolis that is Bendigo. Focussed on health, business and education. Got a tip? Email elspeth.kernebone@bendigoadvertiser.com.au.
Accident brought me to journalism, but every day convinces me again that strong media is more important than ever. After a starting off as the sole reporter in a tiny NSW town, I’m loving the teeming metropolis that is Bendigo. Focussed on health, business and education. Got a tip? Email elspeth.kernebone@bendigoadvertiser.com.au.
