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Charity ‘appalled and saddened’ by housing association eviction notice
A homelessness charity handed an eviction notice by a major Midlands housing association has said it is “appalled and saddened” by the landlord’s decision.
Midland Heart, which owns around 32,500 homes, has given the Hope Centre a year to vacate Oasis House in Northampton as part of a wider review of its supported living portfolio.
Oasis House, which opened in 2012 backed by government money, provides 48 beds for single homeless people and contains 39 flats, as well as assorted homeless support services.
Hope runs a day centre for people facing homelessness, an emergency overnight shelter during cold weather and a substance misuse group from the building.
An online petition calling for Midland Heart to withdraw the eviction notice has received more than 2,000 signatures.
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Robin Burgess, chief executive of Hope, said: “This decision will have a terrible impact on the poorest and most disadvantaged in our community. For them, including the homeless, Hope is a lifeline, the difference between life and death itself.
“Hope does fantastic work, supported and almost entirely funded by the community of Northampton, who in their thousands flock to offer us their time, the donations, their fundraising, their food and their clothes.
“All of this is being thrown aside and trashed by an unwise decision made, we believe, by a small group of people who simply do not know what we do and the brilliant things we achieve with our service users.”
He called on the housing association “to think again” and said the centre is in talks with Midland Heart bosses about revoking the eviction notice.
“There is no shame or loss of face in re-considering, seeing the harm this will do and changing your mind,” he added.
The Northampton Association for Accommodation of Single Homeless (NAASH) has also been told it must vacate its office space in Oasis House within three months.
NAASH is yet to make a statement on the situation.
David Taylor, executive director of operations at Midland Heart, said: “We have proactively reviewed the accommodation and support available across our supported living portfolio to make sure that as an organisation we can have maximum impact in helping to tackle the homelessness crisis in the region.
“As a housing association the most valuable impact we can have is to ensure we are providing as much high quality, safe and affordable accommodation as possible, with access to dedicated support.
“Oasis House was funded and built for the purpose of providing temporary accommodation to help homeless households gain the support they need to live independently.
“The Hope Centre play a valuable role in assisting vulnerable and homeless individuals and we will ensure that they continue to have access to Oasis House to deliver their important work. “However, the Hope Centre share communal space at the scheme but it was not built for their exclusive use.
“While we are very sympathetic to their frustration at having to relocate to new premises it is vital that we look at ways to increase the provision of emergency accommodation for genuinely homeless people in the borough.
“The extended notice period of 12 months should give the Hope Centre sufficient time to find suitable premises to continue their work.”
Stephen Hibbert, cabinet member for housing and wellbeing at Northampton Borough Council, said: “During the coming year we are more than willing to help the Hope Centre find suitable alternative accommodation for its day centre, currently situated at Oasis House.
“We understand from Midland Heart that it plans to refocus activity at its facilities to ensure the best possible outcomes for those who might otherwise become entrenched in a life on the streets.”
He added that the council “wholeheartedly” supports Midland Heart’s approach.
Update: at 9.45am, 25/10/18 a comment from Midland Heart was added to the story.
Update: at 11.10am, 25/10/18 a comment from Northampton Borough Council was added to the story.
