Emmanuel House and the Catholic Diocese of Nottingham are working on plans to use an unused local church building as emergency accommodation for people who are homeless.
What are we proposing?
When the parish no longer needed the building, the Diocese asked if Emmanuel House could make use of the space for emergency respite accommodation.
As a result of a successful funding bid, subject to planning permission, the building will soon become short-term emergency accommodation for up to eight people who find themselves homeless. The accommodation will be managed by Emmanuel House and we will provide 24-hour support.
The average length of stay will be 2.5 months and people will only be allowed accommodation if they have the possibility of moving on into more secure arrangements. The project will sit alongside Emmanuel House’s other accommodation project, the Winter Shelter, which is open October – April.
Who will be staying at the accommodation?
It will be available to people who are homeless who:
- have low level needs.
- will be provided with support and a platform to access more secure accommodation.
Why is there a need for such accommodation?
There is a shortage of affordable places to live in Nottingham. Homelessness is on the rise because of the cost-of-living crisis and Nottingham is the most expensive East Midlands city in which to rent. Many of the people who are currently homeless in Nottingham include people who are working.
In their January 2023 report, the national charity Shelter said that 1 in 201 people in Nottingham are homeless. However, for the long-term resident population, this figure is likely to be higher as the data includes local students.
Is our ambition your ambition?
The ambition of Emmanuel House and the parish is to see an end to homelessness altogether. It is unacceptable that it exists at all in our community and we are constantly reminded that homelessness can happen to anyone.
It is important that there is accommodation provision, like this proposed project, to help people as soon as they become homeless, because we know that creates the greatest chance of them finding new accommodation.
Emmanuel House is not venturing into new or unknown territory. We are well practiced in delivering high quality services of this kind and we maintain the ambition to reduce the number of people who are homeless in Nottingham for the benefit of individual people, the neighbourhood and for Nottingham as a whole.
Community impact
Our role within the community is incredibly important to us. Emmanuel House will be hosting a public consultation for the residents living and working in the area that surrounds the new project. We’re inviting them to learn more about this project and to hear their views on what we propose to do.
Keep up to date with the project
We will soon be providing more information about the project, partnership and funding. If you’d like to keep up to date, please sign up to our newsletter.
