A former care home for the Jewish community is to be used to help get the city’s rough sleepers off the streets this winter.
St Mungo’s will make short term use of Hyman Fine House in Burlington Street, Kemp Town, for their No Second Night Out service from November.
The building will provide people with food, accommodation and personalised support while their longer-term accommodation options are found.
The income from the rental of the 45-capacity facility by St Mungo’s will go directly to support services for the local older Jewish community.
Sussex Jewish Representative Council and Welfare Board said: “We are pleased that Hyman Fine House will not be left empty during the winter and that, in keeping with Jewish tradition of charity and outreach, it will be used for shelter for those in need in our city.
“We continue to plan additional support and services for those older people in our community with the assistance of Jewish Care.
“The income from the rental to St Mungo’s will be added to the funds available for our communal use for the benefit of the elderly.”
Jewish Care, the former operators of the care home, said St Mungo’s short term use of Hyman Fine House will prevent security concerns from it remaining empty for a significant period of time.
The home’s synagogue will be locked at all times and not accessible to St Mungo’s.
Jewish Care plans to sell the care home, which closed in July 2022, with proceeds from the sale to be returned to the Brighton and Hove Jewish community.
However, Jewish Care said they do not envisage Hyman Fine House being put up for sale until sometime in 2023 due to the current economic climate.
All the Hyman Fine House residents have now found alternative accommodation at new care homes.
Consultations with all the home’s staff have been completed, and the building is now being safely secured, packed up and is closed.
Rabbi Pesach Efune in Brighton along with members of the local community, have been working to ensure that all religious items and those that are of sentimental value to the community including artwork and plaques, are being safely removed from the site.
They have either been reunited with the family who gifted them or are being securely held until they are found new homes in the local Brighton and Hove community.
Chief executive at Jewish Care, Daniel Carmel-Brown said: “We are proud to be working with the Sussex Jewish Representative Council, the Welfare Board and St Mungo’s to provide short term support, with winter approaching, to those sleeping rough in the Brighton and Hove community, whilst ensuring the income generated from the vacant building will help fund services for the older Jewish local community in partnership with SJRC.”
St Mungo’s regional head, Rahul Sen said: “We are really grateful to Jewish Care and the Sussex Jewish Representative Council for the opportunity to temporarily use the building, so we can operate this vital service.
“It means we can ensure people have a safe and warm place to stay and receive specialised support, instead of being on the streets.
“We are looking forward to working together and being the best neighbours we can be to the local community.”
Let’s hope St Mungo’s is operating within the law and Planning Permission for the premises…. unlike the flagrant violations when operating NSNO from the unsafe Smart Seaview Hotel in Hove which did not have permission for change of use. Let’s also hope that the levels of supervision are higher and tolerance of antisocial behavior are much lower than was the case at Smart Seaview Hotel. The neighbors should ask their local councilors for a public meeting to discuss how this project will not have the fallout of similar projects elsewhere in the city.
Ohh my pity the neighbours
They could use Hove Town Hall to house rough sleepers. That has been empty since before the first lockdown, while the employees have been working(!) from home.
In London they do not house more than 10 rough sleepers in any one place as these types of places become too dangerous to live in and control with so many people with thse types of sever mental health and drug addiction issues. They also do not house them in the centre of towns as they go around causing trouble to shop keepers, residents etc. The Labour and Green council are totally destroying Brighton with their concerted effort to turn it into some downtown version of San Francisco with junkies hanging around everywhere bothering tourists and residents. If I lived in Burlington street I would sell and move but it is probably too late now. Such a shame this building couldn’t have been knocked down and turned into residential accommodation for people in the city that would have wanted to buy it in an instant.
Housing 10 or fewer people who have complex needs in one place under 24-hour supervision is best practice. Any more and problems and risks increase exponentially. BHCC IGNORES best practice in such matters and this city lives with the consequences of the ill-concerned and badly executed efforts to help rough sleepers. They refuse to learn from other authorities who do it well, in accordance with best practice. They refuse to learn from previous mistakes. Big clouds hang over St Mungo’s as an operator of such services based on experience elsewhere in the city. Talk to people who love near Kingsway in Hove.
Hopefully, somebody will sue the council after some sort of incident kicks off here or in Regency Square due to ignoring best practice. The council has no consideration for neighbours, families and businesses who don’t want to live with junkies fighting at 3am, injecting and begging in the town centres and on their doorsteps. The town looks like a dump and this never used to be the case. The problems such as the down and outs everywhere seem to be deliberate council policy to push normal people out of the city as you just don’t see this problem on the streets in any other UK town in the South East.
This is wonderful and such a good idea.
Well done.
I’m sure the guests will respect and respond with positive thoughts and thanks to all those involved.
Well done Brighton