West Bromwich bus station community hub to close as funding ends

The Let's Chat Hub in West Bromwich is set to close, following the end of a pilot scheme

A community hub that supports those who are homeless or facing loneliness is set to close as its funding ends.

The Let's Chat Hub at West Bromwich bus station, running since February, could shut at the end of the month.

Volunteers at the centre, funded by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), said the pilot project had helped more than 10 people find a place to live.

A TfWM spokesperson said the hub was a time-limited pilot for "one year only" and was "regretfully" coming to an end.

The transport authority would seek ways of "replicating" the scheme's success and would continue to make space available to community transport partners, it added.

The project's "positive impact", funded with money TfWM had secured from the Department for Transport, would also be used to support the design of future schemes.

John Walters said the hub had helped him with housing alongside clothing and shoes

Louise College, meeting facilitator, said the hub had also provided mental health support and had assisted those who were elderly or facing isolation."

She added "we do what we can to help", whether that was signposting, or, "if we can, sort the problem out there and then".

She explained: "It's mainly just a listening ear and somewhere safe for [people] to come and feel part of society."

She said it was "heart-breaking" that the hub may have to close due to a lack of funding.

"It's very difficult," she said. "When these projects start up, they say that they're there to tackle loneliness and isolation. They fix the problem for a short period of time and then they take it away from people when it's a success."

John Walters, service user, said alongside housing, the hub had helped him with clothes and shoes.

He said the space was also somewhere people could mix with others and make friends.

"They really helped me out, I can't state how much they helped me out," he said.

"If it shuts, it will be a shame, so I'm just hoping that [it] can get the funding and keep open."