Belfast Homeless Services (which previously operated under The Place of Victory for all Nations) is set to close this week due to lack of funds and available premises.

Liz Rocks, Co-ordinator of the drop-in centre, said the service has "40-60 service users who come in per night and as of Thursday night we won't have anywhere to house them. It's not just that, they've become a family."

As of January 2019 nearly 20,000 households were classified as homeless. While most of those classified as homeless are living in temporary accommodation, or within a state of "hidden homelessness", more than 200 of those on the homeless register have died within the last 18 months (figures as of March 2019).

In the absence of a functioning assembly proactively dealing with this issue, it's imperative that we, as a community, gather to support some of the most vulnerable in our society.