Fears for city's homeless as shake-up closes night shelter

Published on Monday 9 March 2009 08:51

A HOMELESS service in the city centre is to close at night, sparking fears that up to 40 people will be left without a place to sleep.

The Cowgate Centre will downgrade to day provision only after a council shake-up of services. It has led to fears that former users will be forced back on to the streets.

The winners of the council's new homeless services contract said that, while the centre would cease to be an overnight resource, vulnerable people could still seek help from the service during the day to find other accommodation.

But Andy McAleavy, director of the city's Homeless Outreach Project, fears the closure will result in more people sleeping rough.

He said: "It is something that is of concern to us, particularly that the most vulnerable people will be left at risk here.

"The centre is pretty much the only place in the city centre where people can turn up at 2am and get a shelter over their head for the night.

"The centre has trained people who can put them in touch with services, but if someone ends up at a B&B, they are left on their own without the trained people they often badly need."

City leaders recently completed a 14 million retendering process for homeless services in the city.

As a result of this, from April, Streetwork will take control of the Cowgate Centre from FourSquare, and operate it as a day centre.

Streetwork stressed that anyone who showed up to the centre would be given access to other shelter, but one source close to the centre told the Evening News: "This is very bad news for homeless people in the city.

"Before, they could spend the night there and then access a range of services to help them, whether it was psychiatric or physical, but now these people will be lost into the night, where they will inevitably end up back in the criminal justice system."

The city council insists the closure need not result in anyone extra finding themselves sleeping rough.

Housing leader Councillor Paul Edie said: "We can provide emergency accommodation to anyone who is at risk of having to sleep rough. The homelessness strategy emphasises the need to provide suitable accommodation.

"The new service will provide temporary accommodation which avoids the need for people to use the Cowgate centre at night. This will avoid the current situation where people stay overnight there sleeping on chairs and mats."

Kate Polson, Streetwork's service manager, added: "Streetwork are working with the council as part of the new homeless strategy to ensure that people in housing crisis have access to appropriate individual accommodation. As part of the new service, which will be based in the Cowgate Centre, we will continue to provide advice and support 24/7 to ensure that people experiencing crisis will have immediate support to resolve their situation and follow up support to regain stability."