Council to shut hostels after homelessness review

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing

Leeds council has announced the closure of a hostel in the city and says more are to follow as it bids to re-focus how it deals with homelessness.

Ladybeck House Hostel - which provides short-term emergency housing to single people and childless couples - will close in March with the council signalling "a gradual reduction in hostels" across the city in favour of focusing more on prevention and less on temporary accommodation.

The council works to secure tenancies for people in the private sector and uses a range of prevention initiatives to assist people to remain in their own homes.

It says the demand for temporary accommodation has significantly reduced in the last few years, and, through consultation with people using homeless services in Leeds, it says it has found they prefer self-contained accommodation rather than using a hostel service.

Councillor Peter Gruen, Leeds City Council executive board member with responsibility for neighbourhoods and housing, said: “The feedback we have had from people using our homeless services clearly tells us that our services need to be more flexible and better able to respond to a broad range of needs.

“Hostels are no longer a popular option. Although they can often solve an immediate housing need, people feel that temporary self contained accommodation is a more preferable option and has a better, longer term outcome.

“It is for this reason that we have decided to close Ladybeck Hostel, along with a gradual reduction in hostels across Leeds in the future. We will ensure that there are still direct access hostel services available for people who do still wish to use these services within the city, but are seeking to move to a more effective way of offering homeless services in Leeds.”

Ladybeck House Hostel, located in the Eastgate area of the city, will close on 4 March 2012.

The council says there will be a gradual reduction in the number of admissions, and arrangements have been put in place in its alternative services to provide self-contained accommodation for singles and families.