From BBC Scotland today:
Homelessness campaigners have staged a protest against the closure of a shelter in Glasgow city centre after the council ordered it should be shut down.
Glasgow City Council’s enforcement notice gives the Homeless Project Scotland based at 67 Glassford Street up to 18 October to appeal its decision.
The volunteer-run shelter has been taking in around 35 people a night since December.
The council said it had to take action due to unauthorised change of use of the building, complaints from residents and businesses, as well as reports from police.1
Homeless Project Scotland attracts some pretty hostile comment online.
For example in reddit/Scotland, last year:
Their accounts show that they’ve c. £500,000 in capital. It looks like they’re hoarding money and exploiting the value of the labour of their volunteers, rather than feeding the poor. All while claiming that they need more money, not paying their volunteers, and begging the council for free services. And not paying any tax. Bad management by my standards, and Companies House regulation.2
The accounts3:
Transparency called for.
Sources:
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2e8qzrx01o?at_ptr_name=twitter&at_link_origin=BBCScotlandNews&at_link_id=42BE6DEE-7113-11EF-AD4F-89558E566014&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_link_type=web_link&at_campaign_type=owned&at_format=link&at_medium=social
- https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/181jfbg/homeless_project_scotland/
- https://www.oscr.org.uk/about-charities/search-the-register/charity-details?number=SC050207
Talking-up Scotland 
Interesting insight. On the face of it, this is a ‘successful’ charity when assessed in financial terms. What follows are extracts from it Annual Report and Accounts for 2023:
Source: https://www.oscr.org.uk/charityDocuments/signed-hps-accounts-2022-23-redacted-3a37fce1-c5ee-ee11-a1fe-002248c6f9d3.pdf
‘Financial position – ‘The charity generated a net surplus of £276,620 for the year ended 30 June 2023 (2022: £137,418).
‘At the balance sheet date, total reserves stood at £658,793 (2022: £382,173), with £390,788 of these being unrestricted general funds (2022: £316,308) and £268,005 being designated funds tied up in fixed assets (2022: £65,865).
Reserves policy – ‘It is the policy of the Trustees’ to hold reserves equivalent to twelve months running costs, based on the expenditure for the year to 30 June 2023 this equates to £223,013.
‘At the balance sheet date, unrestricted general reserves stood at £390,788, therefore the Trustees are satisfied that this policy is being met.
‘Funds in excess of the reserves policy will be reinvested in the development of the charity. We are holding these to prepare for opening up Scotland’s first 24 hour welfare centre.’
Donations and legacies (from page 8)
Charity shop income:
What is notable in the chart reproduced in the main blog post is the scale of trading surpluses now over several years. It’s interesting to compare this with the equivalent graph published by OSCR, the regulator, for the charity Turning Point Scotland. The latter also provides support services including: ‘the provision of relief to those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage, in particular (but without limitation) through the provision of accommodation and the provision of care’. It responds to ‘disadvantages caused by homelessness, drug and/or alcohol use and involvement in the criminal justice system.’
See https://www.oscr.org.uk/about-charities/search-the-register/charity-details?number=SC028827
The equivalent graph of annual income and expenditure for Turning Point (below) reveals that income is just above expenditure annually, with the relative scale of annual surplus fairly consistent each year since 2020.
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why would a charity keep hundreds of thousands of pounds in reserve when it knows there are many many people suffering that it could help ? Their answer – we like to keep a years money in reserve just in case ! My response – wouldnt we all but if someone urgently needs help now then money in reserve for a rainy day gets spent.Something fishy about this ,
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The Trustees require the charity to have 12 months operating cash in reserve. They had £390k in hand at year end 23. On the yearly increase in their activities £400k+ will be needed for year 24/25. Therefore appears to be meeting the trustees requirement whilst carrying out a useful job.
The trustees’ names were redacted from the accounts, who are they?
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I’ve honestly been saying the same thing for ages in hopes that people start opening their eyes to this charity. It is poorly managed, exploiting homeless for a profit, and throwing every charity, organisation, council and government under the bus as a reason to blame. If you post anything on their Facebook page asking for transparency or posting their accounts, they block you and delete your comment
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Homeless Project Scotland are an absolute joke.
They don’t work with any other homeless charity, while the rest of them all work in partnership.
There is a lot to come out about this organisation. And it’s not good. The evidence is compelling.
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