GUEST HOUSE FOR HOMELESS MEN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 134, 8 June 1931, Page 7

GUEST HOUSE FOR HOMELESS MEN.

PROPERTY ACQUIRED BY CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Feeling that there is an imperative need for the establishment of a night shelter in the city for homeless men who are out of employment, the St Martin’s House of Help Committee has taken the definite step of purchasing a large property for this purpose. The building, which is situated within the central part of the city in a locality in which there are a nur ber of manufacturing concerns, stands on an area of half an acre of land, and it is considered that there will be no grounds for objections to its use as a night shelter. Explaining the scheme this morning, the Rev P. Revell, City Missioner for the Church of England, said that it was proposed to call the shelter a guest house and no man would be admitted to it except on production of a ticket signed by himself as manager of St Martin’s House of Help. His experience in working among the poor of the city had convinced him of the absolute need for the establishment of such a shelter, but it was intended that the greatest care should be exercised in selecting the men who were to be admitted to it. Accommodation for Forty Men. The building consists of a house of ten large rooms, with ample storage space and outbuildings, and accommodation is to be provided for forty men. A married couple will be in charge and already they have taken up their residence in preparation for the opening of the guest house in about three weeks’ time. The house will be conducted on much the same lines as some <2f the soldiers’ hostels that were opened in England during the war. The men who are given shelter will not be asked to pay anything. They will be selected from really necessitous cases dealt with at St Martin’s House of Help, at 113, Salisbury Street, which is open every morning between 11 and noon, and also on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, from 2.30 to 3.30 for the assistance of women. Mr Revell explained that it was proposed to finance the scheme with money raised at the jumble shop at 169, Manchester Street, and by the generosity of church people and citizens generally. The jumble shop was under the control of Mrs Berry, who was one of the late Mrs Herbert’s helpers, and it was conducted as a depot where clothing and other articles were sold to the poor at very low prices. He expected that sufficient money would be received from the jumble shop to pay the interest charges on the home and also the caretaker’s wages. To meet the other expenses in connection with the home, Mr Revell said it would be necessary to rely on the generosity of the public, but he personally did not feel any great anxiety in that respect.