£3.9 million hostel scheme given go ahead

Plans for new women and families temporary accommodation in Carlisle took another step forward yesterday (Thursday, 29 May), after the City Council’s Executive committee backed the £3.9 million proposals.

The committee endorsed a Government grant worth £1.89m for the proposed Carlisle City Council homelessness scheme and will recommend to Full Council the release of £750,000 funding from the 2008/2009 Housing Strategy, alongside other grant funding.

Th plans will include the replacement of London Road Homeless Families Hostel with a new purpose built ‘Centre of Excellence’ near to the John Street Hostel in Caldewgate. The new £3.9 million scheme will provide:

• High quality self-contained accommodation with no sharing for families and higher quality shared flats for single women. In each case, space standards, privacy and quality of life will be improved significantly. The accommodation will be flexible and will meet the demands of a wide range of families including large families;
• Improved play facilities for children, inside and outside the building;
• Protected, secure garden facilities;
• More energy efficient , more cost effective, ‘greener’ building to meet higher environmental standards;
• New facilities such as better communal spaces and accommodation accessible for people with disabilities including wheelchair users; and
• Limited provision for rough sleepers.
• The £1.89m Government funding bid was granted from the Places of Change Programme.

Carlisle City Cllr Olwyn Luckley, Portfolio holder for Health and Communities said:

"The proposed new facilities are innovative and forward looking, both in their design and the vision of what they can provide in terms of services, with an approach which addresses the short and long term needs of homeless people. It will help us drive forward real and long lasting changes in the lives of some of our most vulnerable residents.

"Creating a purpose built Women and Families Hostel next to John Street Hostel would provide a one stop shop for housing and homelessness advice. It could, if developed, create a new resource centre, joint working with other agencies on site and new services for homeless and vulnerable people in Carlisle - we intend that our hostels will be centres of excellence. "

A planning application for the new development will now be drawn together.