New York hostel idea to be replicated in UK - I/H 15/1 Chloë Stothart
One Housing Group is planning the first scheme in the UK to combine a homeless hostel with intermediate rented housing for low paid workers.
The plans, for Arlington House hostel in the London borough of Camden, are modelled on the well-known Times Square development in New York, which houses 652 low income workers and formerly homeless people.
One Housing Group is currently refurbishing Arlington House to provide 35 homes at intermediate rents and 95 hostel places.
Homelessness charity Broadway is also in discussions to provide employment and training for hostel residents in the £22 million scheme, which includes a significant amount of funding from the Communities and Local Government department.
The scheme will also include an arts studio, construction training centre and a restaurant to provide catering, training and jobs for former hostel residents. It is due to open in June.
Kevin Beirne, director of housing, care and support at One Housing Group, said: ‘We were interested in the Times Square model because it is the creation of a mixed community of ordinary working people, hostel dwellers and work opportunities which allow previously homeless people to become part of ordinary society rather than living in an institution.’
He said the organisation hoped to replicate the scheme if it was successful. One Housing Group took over Arlington House from troubled housing organisation Novas Scarman Group last year (Inside Housing, 19 June 2009).
Jeremy Swain, chief executive of homelessness charity Thames Reach, who visited the Times Square Hotel, said the New York projects juggled 17 funding streams.
He said: ‘You could not continue with Arlington as it was; it was very basic accommodation and very big and there was not a lot of purpose for people living there.
‘The challenge for Arlington will be that you need bread and butter rental income.’