The Birkirkara emergency shelter for those who have nowhere to sleep – Dar Papa Franġisku – was full to capacity throughout December.

As the need for shelter increases, the Dar il-Hena Foundation, which runs the male shelter and another one for women, is looking into opening similar ones in other parts of the island.

At one point, people had, sadly, to be turned away from Dar Papa Franġisku, Caritas Malta director Leonid McKay told this newspaper, adding it could have been a one-off situation.

The number of those who knock on the shelter’s door varies each month, with March, April and December being the most crowded so far.

The numbers are so unpredictable: the house once remained half full following a call on the homeless to seek shelter there - but was full to the brim when no such appeal was made.

Dar Papa Franġisku, which provides daily meals, shower facilities and a bed for those who end up without one overnight, opened in June 2016. The number of people who sleep there keeps growing and it has since been turned into a male-only facility.

Dar Maria Dolores – a house donated by the late Maria Dolores Scerri – hosts on average seven women a night, mostly over 40, the majority of whom Maltese. The figures for Dar Papa Franġisku are double that: some 14 men sleep there at night, most of whom foreign.

Out of the 45 men hosted there in November, a third were Maltese, with the majority being aged between 20 and 39.