Letter to Tim

Tim,

As you probably know, some of the churches in Cambridge, along with Jimmy's Night Shelter and other such societies, offer shelter to the Cambridge homeless, particularly at times of extreme weather. We may recognise a few of their faces from around the city, but just as Cambridge stretches far beyond what most of us normally see, so does the homeless community of Cambridge -- Jimmy's alone hosts twenty people each night.

Finding shelter, however, can be much harder for homeless women than for homeless men. Some homeless women whom we have talked with have said that, depending on who is on duty, the churches sometimes admit only men. The reason that they give is to protect women from being harassed by the men staying there, but the result is that people are left on the street and that churches are underoccupied. The fixed costs are much higher than the marginal cost of hosting an extra person; they do not have the resources to open another church for women.

So, the policy may be well-intended, but it ends up harming people and it fails to achieve its aim. We are writing to the town churches to ask them to change this policy, and to open their doors to all and let people decide for themselves where they would feel safer, rather than (patronisingly) making the (often wrong) decision for them.

Would you be able to support us by writing to the town churches as well? Your voice would have more influence over them than ours, and you would know more people to contact.

Thanks,

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