Harbour Place’s Hope Centre in Grimsby has reopened its night shelter after it was forced to close earlier this week when a man climbed onto the roof and caused significant amounts of damage.
Police were called to the scene late on Tuesday 21 May following reports that a man had taken to the roof. The 55-year old culprit eventually came down and was arrested the following morning. He has since been charged with affray, assault, assault of an emergency worker, racially aggravated public order, three counts of criminal damage and public nuisance.
Harbour Place, the charity which runs the homeless shelter, was forced to close the facility temporarily after it became clear that the majority of the roof had been destroyed, causing thousands of pounds of damage.
Discussing the situation at the time, Councillor Ron Shepherd, cabinet member for communities at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “Without Harbour Place, there isn’t any facility in the borough to help rough sleepers access the support they very much need, whether short term support in the day centre, or support to get them back into appropriate living accommodation. We will be working with Harbour Place in the coming weeks to understand what the longer term impact is whilst the facility is repaired.”
The night shelter has since reopened, but employees and volunteers have been left picking up the pieces while the charity attempts to rebuild.
The prevention hub has had its hours reduced to between 8:30AM and 10:30AM as a result of the situation.
In a statement issued via social media, a spokesperson for Harbour Place wrote: “We cannot thank all the workers from Askerton Homes and Andrew Matthews Electrical enough for their continued hard work over the past 48 hours, which has enabled us to continue to provide some of our essential services.
“We are hoping for our services to commence as usual after the bank holiday.
“Finally, thank you from everybody at Harbour Place for all the support from so many members of the public. The donations, kind messages and comments have really meant a lot in what has been such a difficult time.”
The organisation has been contacted for a comment – updates to follow.
