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String lights, boxes full of postcards to share a story, or a sign on the door that lists the top five David Bowie songs with the message, 鈥淐ome in and argue鈥�: There are many ways to make people happy to come out of the cold and into a public warm space, says Maff Potts. The key, he adds, is to make sure they feel welcome and not judged.

鈥淲hat gets people in is that it鈥檚 not a church. It鈥檚 not a charity,鈥� says Mr. Potts, who founded Camerados, a social movement that鈥檚 been opening public living rooms in communities across the United Kingdom since 2015. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no fixing, no answer. There鈥檚 just permission.鈥�

And this winter, the need for warm banks 鈥� or warm spaces, as they are being called to remove any stigma 鈥� is high.

With the cold settled in and the war in Ukraine unsettling markets, energy prices are up. While the U.K. Health Security Agency is encouraging people to warm their homes to at least 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 F), more than 3 million low-income households cannot afford to heed this advice. According to analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, around 710,000 households across the U.K. cannot pay for warm clothing, heating, and food, with approximately 2.5 million households 鈥撀燼 fifth of all low-income households聽鈥� going without both food and heating.

And with power prices hitting record levels and energy costs double what they were last year, warm spaces have popped up all over the country. To avoid any potential stigma, they鈥檙e being presented as communal spaces where people can come to chat rather than charitable offerings of heat or food. While the main reason someone would go to a warm space or public living room is most likely to be warmth, it鈥檚 the camaraderie and conversation that keeps people there.聽

Or, as Mr. Potts says, 鈥淟ess soup and blankets. More friends and purpose.鈥�

Months without access to energy

Britain鈥檚 poor people face the worst winter in living memory, tweeted former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in December. 鈥淎 year ago we talked about people having to choose between heating and eating, now many can鈥檛 afford either,鈥� he wrote. Two-thirds of the country will be in fuel poverty come April, which includes 70% of pensioners and 96% of single-parent families with two or more kids, he noted.

In October, the U.K. raised its energy price cap, the maximum rate a supplier can charge for their default tariffs, by 80%. Gas prices have risen to record levels following Russia鈥檚 war on Ukraine. Combined with inflation at over 10% and interest rates and rental costs rising at the highest rates on record, much of the British population is struggling to afford the basics. Fuel poverty and energy efficiency charity National Energy Action (NEA) estimates that there are already 6.7 million households living in fuel poverty. And with bills almost double what they were last winter, 2.4 million people have used credit cards or borrowed money to pay them this year.

If you鈥檙e struggling to pay to heat your home, you only really have three options, says Matt Copeland, NEA鈥檚 head of policy: You could rack up debt with your energy supplier, ration your energy and use less than you need to stay warm, or simply turn off the heating, the impact of which can be significant. Research shows that more people die from cold homes than they do from alcohol鈥檚 short- and long-term effects, Parkinson鈥檚 disease, or traffic accidents.

鈥淲e know of households with prepayment meters who just can鈥檛 afford to top them up at all,鈥� says Mr. Copeland. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going days, weeks, and sometimes months without access to energy. That鈥檚 really the worst situation, but unfortunately, it鈥檚 becoming more and more common.鈥�

Where the government is failing, communities are stepping up. 鈥淚t is completely absurd that one of the 10 richest countries in the world can鈥檛 put a sufficient priority on things and make the right choices so that we have somewhere to keep people warm,鈥� says Mr. Potts of Camerados, whose public living rooms are now being used as templates for warm spaces around the country. After almost 30 years of working with people at the margins, Mr. Potts says he doesn鈥檛 have faith that the solution lies in the civil service.

鈥淕overnments might come in for four years, ministers might last a couple. Their ideas are transitory and political. What we need are ideas that last longer than those. And those are coming from communities themselves.鈥�

鈥淧eople have stuck together鈥�

An LGBTQ+ community space in Brighton. A bakery in North Yorkshire. A gaming cafe and 鈥済eek culture鈥� store in Ipswich. A vegetarian restaurant in Tunbridge Wells. A brewery in Devon. A former shoe store in Worcestershire. Warm spaces are popping up all around the country, in all manner of ways, in a community effort that started organically, from the grassroots, without a central organizer.

In addition to community halls and churches, hotels, hairdressers, and cricket clubs are opening up their doors for anyone who needs some warmth, some company, and perhaps even a drink. Even legendary soccer club Manchester United has gotten in on the action and is offering Old Trafford, the club鈥檚 stadium, as a free warm hub, with its restaurant, the Red Caf茅, opening its doors on Monday and Wednesday evenings 鈥渢o help those facing difficult months ahead.鈥�

The Warm Welcome campaign, an organization that has encouraged thousands of faith groups, charities, and businesses to provide such public spaces, said they鈥檇 seen 80,000 people use their facilities during December鈥檚 cold snap. The campaign notes that there are now warm spaces in every town and city in the country, and lists over 3,200 venues on their website, which include spaces run by local authorities, charities, and businesses. More than half of the 355 councils (local governments) in England and Wales are setting up or supporting groups to open warm spaces.

鈥淲hat we have in Brighton and Hove is a tremendous community-mindedness among residents. Despite the stark reality facing residents this winter, people have stuck together and they鈥檝e really helped each other through some of the starkest problems,鈥� says Brighton and Hove City Council Leader Ph茅lim Mac Cafferty, who notes there are more than 40 warm spaces available to the public across the city. 鈥淲ithout the goodwill, the solidarity, the community aspiration around all of this, we鈥檇 be nowhere.鈥�

This nationwide response to the energy crisis is unique in how much of a community effort it is. The effort to create warm spaces was neither government- nor council-led, nor the work of any one particular organization. As the need became obvious, first volunteers, then organizations, and later local councils jumped in feet first.

Both public and private money is funding the warm banks initiative to ensure that the most vulnerable 鈥� particularly children and the elderly 鈥� are not forced to sit in unheated homes through the winter months. Several venues offer free or discounted drinks, and many have planned activities for visitors who may be battling isolation in addition to the cold.

Mr. Potts says his organization鈥檚 efforts are most popular in towns that get very little help and are often seen as hopeless. Camerados鈥� open living rooms, which have spread internationally, tend to be in places where people expect to have to rely on themselves. 鈥淭he warm banks campaign is exactly that,鈥� he says. 鈥淗elp isn鈥檛 coming. And so we鈥檙e just going to get on with it.鈥�

But often, Mr. Potts suggests, making an effort ends up making a difference.

鈥淟ately,鈥� Mr. Potts says, 鈥淚鈥檝e been doing pavement living rooms. I turn up in a town with a van full of furniture, and I put it on the pavement and just talk to everyone who goes by. We don鈥檛 ask for permission. I suppose it鈥檚 illegal. [But] every time the police come, well, ... they sit down and join us.鈥�