A Bradford charity which runs homeless shelters from churches during the winter is expanding its scheme as demand for its services increases.

Inn Churches’ winter shelter project will run for three weeks longer than in previous years and will be held at 18 churches across the district – five more than last year.

Juli Thompson, of the charity, said last year’s bitterly cold winter meant it had decided to run the initiative for its longest ever period, from the start of December until the end of March.

“The severe winter last year meant it was still cold into February and March, so we decided to extend it this year,” said Juli.

“This year we have the most churches we have ever had on board, with 18 hosting churches, although there are plenty more offering us support by sending things like food donations.

“This is the fifth winter we have been running after starting as a pilot scheme and we’ve grown every year since then.

“We realised there is a massive need for homeless beds over the winter and have gone from running with a handful of volunteers from a few churches to running from 18 churches with around 600 volunteers.

“It is something that is desperately needed.”

The winter project, which equips congregations to turn their buildings into makeshift hotels giving shelter, food and clothing to rough sleepers through the coldest months, began as a pilot scheme five years ago.

Last year, it housed 75 people and took 69 people off the streets by either placing them in permanent accommodation or helping them go back to family.

Juli said the charity was expecting the demand to increase again this year.

She said: “Anyone who works with the homeless will tell you that the need is increasing. We don’t want people dying on the streets. It is great we get so much support, but in a way we want to be redundant because we don’t want there to be the need there is. All the churches do a brilliant job every year.”

Training for the project, which sees each church run a homeless shelter for a week over the winter, began last week.

To find out more about Inn Churches, visit innchurches.co.uk.