After a successful 25-year career in roofing Desmond Cooke never imagined that he would become homeless in his 60s.

But that changed last January when he was forced to sofa surf and stay in “disgusting cheap” hotels.

It all started when the rent for his flat in Selhurst increased from £550 to nearly £1,000 over two years.

He had lived there for nine years and had more than 20 years experience in roofing and building, even employing up to eight people.

But in the past year, bad knees meant he could not work as much.

After 11 months of finding places to stay and facing the prospect of sleeping rough the 64-year-old visited the job centre.

Here he was put in touch with Crisis and eventually got a bed at Croydon’s new homeless assessment hub.

He said: “Otherwise I would’ve been on the street in the freezing cold, I was really on the edge of it.

“For a start they gave me friendship, that is the first thing I noticed. The people were helpful and happy.

“My fall from grace was pretty dramatic, two years ago I had savings in the bank, I never thought I would end up like this.

“If I ended up on the streets it would have been difficult to get out of, especially at my age.”

He stayed at the Somewhere Safe to Stay Hub for about 10 days and was helped into accommodation in Norbury where he is feeling more positive about the future and is hoping to find another job.

It is a partnership between Croydon Council and Evolve Housing with rough sleepers, or people about to sleep rough referred by the council’s homeless assessment team and partners including Croydon Reach and Crisis.

It started running in November and is open 24-hours-a-day 365 days of the year and can sleep up to 15 people a night.

Another person who was on the brink of sleeping rough was Chelsea McCarthy.

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The 38-year-old became homeless earlier this month following a relationship break-up.

She said that if she hadn’t gone to Crisis and got a space at the hub, her only option would have been to sleep on the streets.

Chelsea said: “I went to Crisis when I found out I had to move out of my flat and I came to the hub on the same day.

“I would have been on the street, I was scared about that.

“They helped me find somewhere to live in Thornton Health and came to be assessment with the council with me because of my learning disability.”

Chelsea previously worked as a safety steward at Crystal Palace and is now hoping to get back into work.

She added: “My advice is to try and get help as soon as possible, I would not have been happy if I was on the streets.”

What is the Somewhere Safe to Stay Hub?

At the hub as well as a warm bed for the night, people receive help into settled accommodation and one-to-one help with their finances and job skills.

In its first eight weeks of operation, 49 people have been helped and 15 supported into longer-term accommodation.

Debra Ives who is director of operations at Evolve said: “A team of support workers works with them quite intensively to make sure they don’t return to the streets.

“We have around seven to eight per night at the moment and they are people who would otherwise be on the street.”

As well as a main room of beds there are separate male and female rooms for vulnerable people as well as one private room for an individual or couple.

Although it has been running since November it was officially opened today (Thursday, January 30) by special guest Roy Hodgson, manager of Crystal Palace Football Club.

At an opening event he said: “Life has treated you so unfairly if you are living in doorways, you are crying out in some way for someone to do something.

“I think in a society like ours with so much money it is awful to see people in the situation they find themselves.”

And councillor Alison Butler, Croydon Council’s cabinet member for homes, said that people that work and volunteer at the hub make such a difference to people’s lives.

She added: “Any one of us can end up on the street homeless. Sometimes you just need that hand up and that little bit of assistance.”

This week the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed the council’s Gateway service will receive £1.218m in 2020/21 for homelessness prevention and intervention work, including the hub.

The council and partners already provide wider support for rough sleepers, from accommodation for single homeless people to the Croydon Churches Floating Shelter and an emergency winter shelter hosted by Crystal Palace Football Club.