Hospitality on Church Floors (2013-2020)

Cambridge Churches Homeless Project was set up in February 2013 when four Cambridge churches* opened their doors for one night each week to a small group of people who were sleeping on the streets of Cambridge.

The following winter, seven churches** committed to offer accommodation from January to March for ten people when the weather was severe. Guests would sleep at each venue one night a week, after sharing a warm meal cooked by volunteers from the community.

For successive winters, the project grew and developed, learning through experience and incorporating good practice and policies from the wider homeless sector.

By the late 2010s, CCHP was supporting six local churches and one synagogue to host 15 men a night for the five coldest months of the year.

Supporting the Winter Provision at Crossways (2021-2025)

With restriction imposed by the Covid pandemic in 2020, CCHP’s provision of winter accommodation became untenable when it was no longer legal to host large numbers of guests and volunteers together in communal spaces.

In late 2021, the charity It Takes a City (ITAC) opened Crossways, a hostel in central Cambridge with 20 ensuite bedrooms, providing shelter to rough sleepers for the five coldest months of the year.

For four winters, CCHP recruited volunteers and co-ordinated their involvement at Crossways.

Each winter, around 100 people were involved in cooking, cleaning and socialising with residents at the project.

With Crossways an increasingly well-established and successful project run by ITAC, CCHP stepped back from directly managing and co-ordinating volunteers at Crossways in early 2025 to explore new ventures.

Please see here to find out about our current activities.

*Emmanuel United Reformed, Wesley Methodist, St Andrew’s Street Baptist and Great St Mary’s

**Emmanuel URC, Little St Mary’s, Castle Street Methodist, St Giles, OLEM, Castle End Mission, and St Mark’s