Islington Tribune - News: Town Hall to shut hostels no longer fit for homeless

Islington Tribune - News: Town Hall to shut hostels no longer fit for homeless: "
Islington Tribune - by MARK BLUNDEN
Published: 9 February 2007

Town Hall to shut hostels no longer fit for homeless

Years of neglect blamed as closure opens way for homes on sites

TWO homeless hostels in Highbury are to close next month after being left without essential maintenance for so long they are rotting away.
After final approval last week, the hostels in Petherton Road and Grosvenor Avenue will shut so the sites can be sold for affordable housing.
For years the hostels, known as “reception centres”, have been excluded from cyclical maintenance programmes, with electrical wiring at Grosvenor Avenue so out of date that one resident claims power cuts are a frequent occurence.
Experts commissioned by the Town Hall found it would cost more than £7 million to bring the hostels – and another which is not due to close – up to modern standards.
An executive briefing document, dated October 2005, states: “The lack of maintenance over the past 30 years has contributed to the poor living environment. The quality of the accommodation provided in the centres does not meet the council’s medium or long-term aims.”
Islington currently has nine homeless hostels, with 304 rooms. They employ 26 staff and are run by Homes for Islington, the company in charge of the borough’s housing.
Notices have been pinned to the doors of people living in the Grosvenor Avenue hostel telling them to be out by next month.
One Grosvenor Avenue resident claims the council is winding down maintenance for the block as it prepares for closure.
The man, a reformed drug user, was taken in after seeking refuge from intimidating dealers. He said: “They put the heating back on now but it took them some time.
“This place is scruffy with paint peeling off everywhere and lots of cobwebs. I just hope they can find me somewhere safer, preferably away from the area.”
The man, who did not wish to be named, added: “But it’s the families who are here I feel sorry for. They’re going to have to uproot them to entirely different places. That’s going to be hard on the children.”
Money from the sale of Grosvenor Avenue and Petherton Road hostels will be ploughed back into providing better services at the remaining seven centres.
The two centres to close were not the “worst of the worst”. Three other centres were singled out in the October 2005 report as being in a worse condition.
It is unclear what the future of these centres – known in reports as Herongate, Peregrine House and Hornsey Road – will be until the money from the hostels’ sale is secured. Plans to close the Highbury centres and sell the sites were rubber-stamped at last week’s council overview committee and will be sent back to the executive for final approval.
Cllr Terry Stacy, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Housing and Communities, said: “There are 13 people staying at Grosvenor Avenue – none of them will be left homeless when the building is sold.
“Our strong track record tackling homelessness means there are now fewer people coming into hostels. What Islington really needs is more affordable permanent housing.”



spacer"