DOZENS of homeless people were helped with places to stay over the festive season.

New figures from homeless charity HARP revealed 66 people were put up in shelters during December.

Each homeless guest stayed at one of Southend’s night shelters between one and 20 nights over the Christmas period.

The shelters have also announced that an additional church is stepping in to fill the gap on Tuesday evenings, meaning that there is now a seven-day provision for the winter nights shelters, which runs until March 29.

The new venue opened yesterday.

The programme, which is jointly run between Southend Council, HARP, and Love Southend, creates 20 extra sleeping spaces per night for rough sleepers in the town.

John Simmons, co-ordinator for the winter night shelters, said: “A big thank you to our new venue for stepping in to fill the gap at what is still the coldest time of the year, when it is impossible for those sleeping on the streets to stay warm and dry.”

Ian Gilbert, leader of Southend Council, added: “It is fantastic news that we are now able to offer a full seven day a week, church winter night shelter programme.

“It is such a vital service, as these initial figures show and I want to thank all the volunteers, venues and of course, our partner agencies, for helping provide it.”

The chief of executive of HARP, Jackie Bliss, was thankful that the rough sleepers had somewhere to stay. She said: “The winter night shelters are essential to HARP’s work helping people overcome homelessness for good.

“We are grateful to all the churches and volunteers involved, as well as our partners Love Southend and Southend Council, for making this happen every year.”

Anyone who is rough sleeping and wants to make use of the churches must be referred via the Bradbury Day Centre, on York Road. Full details of which churches are open are provided on referral.