West Molesey Night Shelter: The reality of homelessness in one of England's wealthiest boroughs
It’s 7pm on a cold winter night when the doors of West Molesey’s night shelter open. From the moment guests step inside, they are met with a warm welcome - staff greet them with a smile, a sleeping bag, bed, and pillow, and a hot meal. Jo, the director of the hub, explains that the shelter (funded partly by Walton Charity), runs on a referral basis from the council and Rentstart, and that “even in people have complex needs, we believe in giving someone a first chance”.
More than just a bed for the night
Jo makes it clear that what she would say to someone that’s never visited a night shelter is “to scrap every preconception you have. For example, we have a 67-year-old homeless male, a 24-year-old homeless female, and everyone in between. Some are parents, some are not, some are single, some are not. Genuinely everyone is different”.
But while the shelter offers vital respite, the ultimate goal is to find them “somewhere sustainable and long-term”.
Glaring gaps
Communications officer Amy met with Jo from the West Molesey Night Shelter
The shelter only operates during the coldest months, from December to the end of March. Jo is blunt about the consequences felt when the doors shut. She states that “this is where the system is totally flawed. If someone isn’t housed by March and there’s no funding left… just imagine the concept of tomorrow, you’re out”. Fortunately, in the previous year, every guest was housed, but this outcome isn’t always guaranteed. The logic seems fundamentally flawed - homelessness is not simply a winter problem; if it doesn’t disappear when the weather warms, why do the shelters?
Jo recognises that a few hours in the evening aren’t enough to help someone start rebuilding their lives, so this year the shelter secured extra funding for daytime supervised sessions.
“What we found last year is that a lot of our guests have complex needs, and you can’t sort these things out in the evening. Opening a bank account, registering for a GP - those things can’t be done at night”.
The additional daytime sessions have already proven hugely valuable, and help build trust with guests much quicker. The night shelter’s partners Rentstart and Transform Housing work hard to not only provide more permanent accommodation, but wraparound support too. These providers visit the shelter regularly, and Jo has even bigger ambitions for wider services, like a hairdresser or GP, to attend the shelter.
A crisis in the making
From working at both the food bank and the night shelter, Jo has seen poverty evolve into something far more complex that it used to be. She explains that “whereas before someone facing homelessness might have just had a few unpaid bills, now they’re forced to make horrendous choices between essentials like rent and food”.
As we know at Walton Charity, poverty and homelessness rarely exist in isolation. It’s often the culmination of unfortunate and traumatic circumstances that, left without intervention, spiral and push people to the brink.
Jo also makes it clear that nowadays, “it’s the people in that middle band of income, those in work that used to scape by but can’t anymore. They aren’t eligible for benefits, meaning that if you don’t prevent it at that middle level, people sink lower. Homelessness is only a little bit away from that. As much as the night shelter is fab, the key thing we’re now looking at is prevention and trying to get people before they get to that point”.
Breaking the illusion of wealth
Elmbridge, known for its affluence, hides a stark reality: homelessness levels are rapidly growing. Jo believes that what is unique to Elmbridge is that “because there is so much wealth, the poverty is hidden. People are ashamed of it and they don’t want to be seen to be struggling”.
Research from Walton Charity revealed that Elmbridge is the 9th most unequal borough in England, with a staggering 75% of those in poverty coming from families where at least one adult is employed. In 2023, just under 15% of children in Elmbridge were living in poverty. Jo agrees with these findings, and cites the staggeringly high cost of living as the reason so many people can’t keep up.
Jo sees two ways to combat the issue in Elmbridge. She says “we need to make it clearer to wealthy residents that there are problems here, and that they could help in a multitude of ways. But alongside this, we need to make sure that we’re still targeting the right people and responding to the changing landscape”.
What’s next?
Five years down the line, Jo strongly believes there will still be a need for night shelters: “in an ideal world, I wouldn’t have to do what I do. But the cost of living isn’t getting any better, and there are so many people who are displaced or in temporary accommodation. We all hope it gets better, but for now, what I would love to have is a space where we have partner services coming in throughout the day so we can move people on quickly but with the right support. They’re not a statistic”.
What’s important to remember amongst all the pros and cons of night shelters is the real difference they make to the people that use them. For one guest, the night shelter and its volunteers “saved my life… and restored my faith in humanity”. For another, “the level of care that’s shown to us gives us a feeling a worth”.