A hostel for homeless people opened its doors in Openshaw today.
It will rehouse people who are ready to move on from current temporary accommodation but who aren’t quite ready for a permanent tenancy – in turn freeing up more temporary accommodation.
The property is a large shared house providing 13 beds for single people who have been homeless and who have been assessed as ready to move into this type of temporary accommodation.
Councillor Bernard Priest, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council said: “Bringing additional temporary accommodation back into use it means that we can help people move forwards and support them as they work towards getting permanent accommodation. By creating beds for people to move on to, we can free up beds for other rough sleepers who need more intensive support early on.
“People need different levels and types of support at various stages in the process to getting back into settled accommodation and we want to ensure that the right level of support is on offer at the right time for those who need it.”
Experienced staff will be on site 24 hours a day and will provide support and advice for residents referring them to other services that can help them address issues they still need support with, such as substance misuse or health-related problems and help them to gain the skills necessary to move on to more long-term accommodation so that they do not need to return to the streets.
There will be no limit on how long residents can stay but it is hoped that residents will be in a position to move on within six months.
The house will link in closely with the work of other homelessness services provided by a number of agencies and will form part of the pathway that helps people who may have slept on the streets into accommodation and on to appropriate long term housing – with suitable support in place at every stage of the journey.
The new hostel will be one of around 50 different housing and accommodation offers for homeless people in Manchester, with each providing support to different groups of homeless people and meeting different needs.
This announcement follows the opening of the Longford Centre in Chorlton, a homelessness prevention centre earlier this month, designed to support those new to homelessness by putting a roof over their head while they are given early help.
