Coventry homeless services to be transformed

A residential centre is to be built for homeless people in Coventry in a £6m scheme.

Not-for-profit organisation Whitefriars Housing is to build the 60-room centre in partnership with the city council.

Work is scheduled to start at a site still to be decided in January 2013 and be completed by December 2013.

In October the project won £2.1m funding from the Homes and Communities Agency. Enhanced support services will be provided, Whitefriars Housing said.

'Economic hardship'

The organisation, part of WM Housing Group, said these would be provided by itself and others "to promote training, life and vocational skills, to prepare residents for employment and swifter move-on to permanent accommodation".

Whitefriars chairman Mick Rawson said: "In a time of economic hardship we are able to invest £6m to provide good accommodation to people without a home, many of whom regularly face sleeping on the streets.

"The centre will have a range of services to help people turn their lives around and we will be able to help people get off the streets and into permanent accommodation."

Coventry City Council said it congratulated WM Housing and Whitefriars "for bringing this scheme forward" and added it was "recognition of how we can work together to provide good homelessness services".

Whitefriars Housing owns and manages about 18,500 homes across Coventry.