Shelter salute to pub boss who has helped hundreds off streets
‘TOWN HOUSE’ FACILITY NAMED IN HONOUR OF LANDLADY
Coun Barbara Warrington cuts the ribbon to open the Town House, named after inspirational pub boss Pauline Town, left
A NEW homeless shelter named after a pub landlady who has worked ‘tirelessly’ to support rough sleepers has officially opened.
The Town House has been set up in a former St Ann’s Primary School building in Ashton-under-Lyne, and is designed to provide ‘wrap-around care’ to homeless and vulnerable people.
The facility is named after Pauline Town, who runs the Station Hotel in Ashton. Over the last six years she has helped more than 300 people off the streets and into homes of their own.
Council leader Brenda Warrington described the Town House as ‘so much more than an overnight hostel.’
She said: “It is a community facility offering tailored support, guidance, care, clothing and food to vulnerable people who find themselves in crisis.
“It is not just a sticking plaster or a temporary solution to supporting someone – it is there to address issues and find sustainable solutions for the long term so people don’t go back to being on the streets or back to situations where they are vulnerable.”
Based next to St Ann’s Church in Burlington Street, the Town House has been developed in partnership with the Catholic Diocese of Salford and Father Simon Firth. It has replaced the temporary accommodation in the former library building at Ryecroft Hall in Audenshaw which led neighbours to complain of drinking and drug-taking around the facility.
The first floor has been converted to overnight hostel accommodation where evening meals are provided.
The ground floor is to be used as a shared space used by the homelessness service and other groups to offer a range of support measures.
It includes a community cafe, which provides meals for hostel residents, together with preparation of food parcels and pre-prepared meals for vulnerable people across Tameside.
A food and clothing bank will operate from the ground floor and laundry facilities have also been made available. The rough sleeping team will offer help with drug and alcohol addiction, mental and physical health problems, welfare rights, domestic abuse, vulnerability and even simple life skills such as cooking and personal hygiene.
The council has already recorded a significant drop in rough sleeping between 2018 to 2019, from 42 people down to five – an 86 per cent reduction.
A count on July 9 found no one sleeping rough in Tameside, the first time in almost a decade that a count of this kind in the borough returned a zero result. Coun Warrington added: “I’m so proud of the work that our homelessness team and wonderful community partners are doing to successfully support people who find themselves in crisis and sleeping rough in Tameside.”