A homeless shelter in Brighton has officially opened its doors in time for the holidays, after health and safety delays.
Homelessness charity St Mungo’s has reopened its No Second Night Out service in its new premises – the former Jewish care home Hyman Fine House, in Kemp Town.
The rapid assessment service, which aims to limit the amount of time anyone spends sleeping on the streets, was due to open last month but electrical work delayed the site’s health and safety certification.
The service, which can cater for up to 45 people at any one time, will be staffed 24 hours a day, with a security team on site overnight.
No Second Night Out service manager Hari Chhokar said: “We are delighted to be welcoming residents into Hyman Fine House this week.
“We are looking forward to helping people to settle in and providing them with a safe and comfortable place to live while our highly specialised team work with individuals to identify their personal support needs and find sustainable housing options to help them recover from homelessness.
“Hyman Fine House is an amazing building which is so well suited to our service and we are very grateful to Jewish Care for allowing us to use the premises.
“We have already been meeting our new local community and look forward to being the very best neighbours we can be.”
No Second Night Out provides people with accommodation, food and personalised support while their longer-term accommodation options are explored.
St Mungo’s relocated the service after routine maintenance checks at the previous building, in St Catherine’s Terrace, on Hove seafront, found expensive and extensive electrical safety and fire safety issues.
Since July, No Second Night Out has operated from temporary offices and has put clients up in various places including hotels and B&Bs (bed and breakfasts).
The former Jewish care home closed in October this year and all the previous residents have found alternative places in new care homes.
Jewish Care’s chief executive Daniel Carmel-Brown said: “We are so pleased that from the moment that St Mungo’s completed the lease agreement on Friday, they started to admit residents into the building.
“We are proud to be working with the Sussex Jewish Representative Council (SJRC), the Welfare Board and St Mungo’s to provide short-term support to those sleeping rough in the Brighton and Hove community, while ensuring the income generated from the vacant building will help fund services for the older Jewish local community in partnership with SJRC.”
Green councillor David Gibson, who co-chairs Brighton and Hove City Council’s Housing Committee, said: “It’s great news to see the No Second Night Out reopening in time for Christmas.
“No Second Night Out is part of a much wider package of accommodation and support we offer to people who are sleeping rough and a vital part of the city’s services to help people move off the streets.
“The short-term support is set up to offer urgent accommodation for people who’ve had the misfortune to end up sleeping rough.
“It’s essential that we offer people short-term accommodation quickly before they’re impacted by the wider difficulties many people who sleep rough for the longer term can often face.”
I love the way this was snuck in without consukting the local community, only the residents in Burlington Street that the shelter is in was consulted once it had beeen given the go ahead! No members of the council were at the meeting! I can forsee begging, drug and alchol abuse in the area. Oh the joys!
Let’s hope they are better neighbours in Kemptown than they were when operating out of derelict premises in Catherine’s Terrace. St Mungos has a derisory record when it comes to upholding promises and community engagement.