24-hour homeless centre to open in Chorlton
- Manchester Council plans to convert an empty care home into a safe haven for people in need of emergency accommodation
- The centre aims to tackle the city's growing homelessness crisis
A 24-hour homeless centre is set to open in Manchester as part of the council’s bid to tackle homelessness.
The Longford Centre in Chorlton will act as emergency accommodation for people with a variety of needs who have recently fallen into homelessness.
If approved, the former care home on Edge Lane will be transformed into a 38 bed homelessness prevention centre and will provide accommodation, food and activities such as gardening, cooking and art.
The plans come following Greater Manchester’s mayor Andy Burnham’s pledge to end homelessness by 2020. If it goes ahead, the centre will be one of 50 throughout Manchester.
The aim is to prevent people from becoming homeless and help them to move forward with their lives by rebuilding their confidence, allowing them to move onto independent accommodation, employment or training.
Figures released in January by homeless charity, Shelter, showed that homelessness in the region had risen by 41% over the previous year and had quadrupled since 2010. However, charities believe that such audits severely underestimate the scale of the problem.
The mayor highlights the urgency of finding rough sleepers somewhere safe to stay ahead of the winter months.
Mr Burnham told the MEN: ‘I can tell you people in Greater Manchester do not like walking past the people huddled in doorways.
“They don’t avoid their eyes, they want something done – and I hope the Tory party sees what’s happening around us’
“I am personally committed to this. Together I absolutely believe we can end rough sleeping and put a roof over everyone’s head in Greater Manchester.”