A NIGHT-SHELTER for the homeless is being re-launched as a hostel with individual bedrooms to help users feel more secure.

The Branches charity was previously operating as a day centre and night shelter in Forest Road, Walthamstow, where homeless users had to share dormitories and had little privacy.

But following weeks of redecorating, the centre will be reopened on Tuesday as a hostel at a new premises in Langthorne Road, Leytonstone, by the Mayor of Waltham Forest, Cllr Sheila Smith-Pryor.

Branches chief executive of operations, Peter Baldwin, said: “There will be a change of ethos.

"Users will have their own rooms and there will be no more dormitory sharing.

“We are all really pleased about this and the residents have been getting involved by doing painting and decorating and are getting excited about having their own space.”

Mr Baldwin said that users don’t always feel safe in dormitories and, as a result, some leave quickly.

He hopes that as a hostel, with 30 bedrooms, the users will feel more secure and will stay longer so they can sort out their housing, employment or drug problems.

But the Leytonstone building is only a temporary measure to house the hostel while its former building in Forest Road is demolished and re-built using a £2.5million Government grant.

The charity was granted planning permission by the local authority in November, and hopes to have the new build completed within 18 months.

Branches will also soon have its transport for the first time, after a mini-bus was purchased using donations from the Mayoral Charities Fund.

The nine-seater bus will be used to re-settle users into new homes, transport them to training courses and to collect food and clothing donations from around the borough.

Branches was selected by Mayor Sheila Smith-Pryor to benefit from the fund, alongside Walthamstow charity MS Action.