£1.9million Government funding announced
Plans for new women and families temporary accommodation in
Carlisle have taken another step forward today (Thursday, 20
March), after the Government announced £1.89m funding for a
proposed Carlisle City Council homelessness scheme.
The successful grant application, put forward by Carlisle City
Council earlier this year is part of a package of funding for the
proposed project. This could 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 could 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 Judy Prest, Portfolio holder for Health and
Wellbeing said:
"The proposed new facilities are radical 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 report setting out the next steps forward for the scheme will
go before the City Council’s Executive this May.