A flagship Newcastle project hoping to break the cycle of homelessness in the city has celebrated a successful first 12 months with the opening of a new Zen garden.
Elliott House in the West End last year became the first homeless hostel in the UK to be converted into self-contained flats, now known as Bentinck Terrace, with the aim of giving people the personal space they need to recover. Charity Changing Lives says that people with their own front door spend 70% less time in the homelessness system and are three times more likely to then move into independent housing compared to those coming from shared facilities in hostels.
Changing Lives project manager Alan Hodgson says that the supported accommodation has already proved a resounding success and turned around a hostel which he likened to a “hellhole”. He said: “This was a hostel for people in crisis and with that you had various things that come with that kind of place in terms of crime, drug-related deaths, and so on. It was a bit of a hellhole.
