Hanger-on gets shelter by church (5)
I believe the answer is:
leech
'hanger-on' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'shelter by church' is the wordplay.
'shelter' becomes 'lee' (I've seen this before**).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'lee'+'ch'='LEECH'
'gets' is the link.
(Other definitions for leech that I've seen before include "Small worm once used for blood-letting, or a parasitical person" , "Old physician" , "Blood-sucking parasite" , "Freeloader" , "Clinging type" .)