Homelessness charity Crisis urgently needs to find a building to house 150 homeless people over Christmas after one of its nine centres failed a fire safety check.

The centre will be one of nine to host Crisis at Christmas, which provides warmth, companionship and vital services to over 3,000 homeless and vulnerably housed people from 23 to 30 December. The event is run by an army of 8,000 volunteers who give up their own Christmas to help others.

Numbers of rough sleepers have risen sharply in the capital. 5,678 people slept rough at some point in London during 2011/12, an increase of 43 per cent on the previous year’s total of 3,975.

Ian Richards, head of Crisis at Christmas, said: “With the safety of our guests and volunteers paramount, we have reluctantly been forced to abandon one of our Crisis at Christmas centres due to fire safety concerns.

“This has left us 150 beds short with less than two weeks until we open our doors to homeless people across the capital. We urgently need this final building – if we don’t find something very quickly some homeless people might have to face Christmas on the streets, instead of accessing our life-changing services.”

If you can help, or for more information contact Crisis