Training flats to open for homeless young people

The seven flats will have their own boilers, bathroom, kitchen and bedrooms to help teach homeless young people how to live alone

New "training" flats are set to open later in November to house homeless young people, the charity Action for Children has said.

The seven single-occupancy homes have been bought by Maison St Pierre and rented to Action for Children.

They will provide an opportunity for homeless young people to learn how to live by themselves.

Aaron Davis, service manager at Action for Children, said: "It's to put a safety net in place and help them to get the skills they need to live on their own."

Peter Atkinson (right) has been working with Maison St Pierre since the 1990s

The flats have been developed from an unused block of offices.

Peter Atkinson from Maison St. Pierre said: "We discussed it with the owner at that stage and he said that he would be willing to sell the top two floors to us to use as accommodation for young people.

"It was completely open plan, it was open plan offices. So we decided that rather than buy the top two floors, the charity would buy the whole building.

"Action for Children are our tenants on the ground floor and we are letting the flats to them on these two upper floors for a peppercorn rent."

The housing, described as "training" accommodation, offers more than shelter for young people to live.

Mr Davis said: "We're not landlords, part of our offer is working with young people and upskilling them.

"Whether that's budgeting, paying your rent, right through to self-care skills, how you look after yourself, how you look after a property, things like doing the bins, things that we all naturally as an adult.

"So young people who come into our training accommodations are aware that part of the commitment is that they're going to learn to live independently because this, if you like, is a lovely stop gap.

"It's a beautiful building and a beautiful room, but it's a stop gap to them moving onto their own property and their own future, independent of Action for Children."

The flats are set to be completed by the end of November and the first tenants are expected to move in to the bottom floor of flats by Christmas.

The top floor, which has an accessible flat, is set to finished by the end of the year.