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.
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“We got the money from Homes England to convert it to 36 self-contained flats and I think it has proved the difference you can make – by changing the environment you change people’s mental health, their wellbeing, give them their own safe space. We have people here with dogs now, a guy who has learned how to fly a microlight – you would never even have that kind of conversation in a hostel.”
Each of the 36 flats at Bentinck Terrace are now occupied and the grade II listed building now boasts a new Zen garden designed by its residents as a place to relax and meditate peacefully. The new “slice of Eden” was officially opened at the ceremony on Wednesday, with VIP guests including the lord mayor of Newcastle, Coun Karen Robinson.
Vincent von Ellesmere, who has been living at the site for six months after being homeless, says he came up with the idea for the garden as a way to help others dealing with mental health struggles. The 42-year-old, who grew up in Walker, was previously at Changing Lives’ Virginia House hostel after moving back to the North East after a friend he was living with in Blackpool died and believes the unique environment at Bentinck Terrace has helped put him on the path to turning his life around.
He said: “The staff at Changing Lives saved my life three times. When someone does that for me I feel like I owe them my life so I am doing everything I can to help this wonderful charity, they are amazing.
“If you have a dream they will do everything to help make it come true and they won’t stop until it is done.”
The charity is now calling on the government to urgently put extra support in place for homeless people struggling desperately through the cost of living crisis.
CEO Stephen Bell added: “We are rightly proud of our housing model, which we believe is right for the people we support and gives them the best possible chance of moving forward with their lives. However, the rising cost of living is making this much more difficult – already we are seeing people struggling to afford the costs of living independently, which is devastating to see.”
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