Winter Shelters In Liverpool And Manchester Skating On Thin Ice
Two flagship night shelters for the homeless are in trouble, only months after opening to media fanfare.
In Liverpool, Signature Living’s ‘Big Brother’-style homeless shelter still doesn’t have planning permission – and likely won’t get it until just before it is due to close. The shelter on Cotton Street, just north of the city centre, was opened last October, but an application for a six-month temporary permission for the shelter still hasn’t been approved by Liverpool city council, reports the Liverpool Echo. And now it’s been confirmed that changes to the application requested by planners mean it won’t be up for a decision by councillors until March.
Unless extended, the shelter’s six-month run should finish in April. A council spokesman said planners needed an updated management plan from Signature Living – as well as the removal of some incorrect information from the planning application. He said: “Once this is received, we will re-consult on the application. The likely date for committee will be March as a result of the re-consultation exercise.”
A Signature Living spokesman said the company was working with planners.
He said: “There is currently a live planning application and we are working with the authority to gain the necessary consent.”
Meanwhile, over in Manchester, a 24-hour homeless shelter opened less than three months ago to kick off Andy Burnham’s flagship ‘bed every night’ vision has closed permanently due to electrical problems, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The new hub, on the edge of Manchester city centre, had been launched to fanfare at the start of November in a push to provide enough beds for every rough sleeper in the region between then and March. It closed on Christmas Eve when faults were found with the electrics, however, and has not opened since.
Manchester council -which commissioned the shelter, run by housing organisation Riverside – has now confirmed it will stay shut permanently, with sources suggesting it would have cost thousands of pounds to put the electrics right. The town hall has refused to disclose how much has been spent on the shelter so far or exactly how much it would have cost to fix, claiming it is still working on the figures, but says it is looking for alternative buildings.
A spokesman said the final cost would be split with Andy Burnham’s office. It remains unclear why the shelter was able to open with basic structural problems.
Several charity workers suggested it had opened too quickly, before basic structural issues had been ironed out. But one experienced homelessness worker said communication between different parts of the system was chaotic and branded it ‘b******s every night’, while another said it was mired in red tape.
“Obviously there has to be a process, but homeless people aren’t necessarily going to stand and queue up and fill out forms several times. They just want a bed,” they said. “These people are in chaos and could die on the streets, but are currently having to jump through hoops.” The referral form used, seen by the M.E.N, includes questions such as ‘what do people appreciate about you?’ and ‘what’s important to you?’ “Nine out of ten people say ‘a bed’,” added the charity worker.
