Doors open ready for residents in charity’s pioneering village for homeless people
● First inhabitants due to arrive on site within weeks
“[ The village project] will lead to a realisation that people don’t choose homelessness and their journey out of it is more than the material”
EWAN AITKEN
Cyrenians chief executive
Gazing down on the handful of colourful, cottage- style houses set among flower beds below, Rico Wallace jokes that he is “quite jealous” – and it is easy to see why.
Arranged inn eat row son a hillside in Grant on on the north side of Edinburgh, with views out to the Firth of Forth, t he 1 1 newly- built dwellings makeup Scotland’ s first village for homeless people.
The development is expecting its first residents within weeks, where they will be supported by a dedicated onsite team until they are ready to move to a permanent home.
The project was created by the charity Social Bite, which runs five cafés across Scotland where members of the pub-liccan choose to pay for food served by the outlets to homeless people.
The charity decided to build the village after members of its staff – around a quarter of whom are homeless themselves–highlighted the problems posed by temporary accommodation.
It is something that Mr Wallace ,48, has experienced himself first hand. Having been homeless for several years, he recalls staying at numerous hostels and B& Bs which felt as unsafe as the streets.
He says: “Sometimes you get pu tina place where it’s just winos, and people can look in and have easy access to your personal belongings. They pretend to be your friend and then steal off you.”
Step across the threshold of one of the cottages, known as Nesthouses, and the atmos- phere could not be more different. Each has two single bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a small living area complete with armchairs and an electric fire.
The land for the village was leased to Social Bite for free by the City of Edinburgh Council, which currently spends around £ 6 million per year on temporary accommodation for homeless people.
The entire village cost around £750,000 to build, which was collected through fundraising events, in clud- ing a sleep out in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens last December.
At the top of the hill on which the village is built stands a community hub, where residents can eat communal meals at canteen- style tables, watch TV and relax.
It is also where they will be given 24/ 7 support by five fulltime employees working for the Cyrenians charity, with the ultimate aim being to allow them to move on with their lives on their own.
Ewan Aitken, the charity’ s chief executive, says :“Our experience of communities is that the really significant conversations and decisions happen around the dinner table.”
He describes the village as an“extraordinary statement of people’s commitment to the neighbour and the stranger” which could change the way people regard homelessness.
“It will lead to area lisation that people don’t choose homelessness and their journey out of it is more than the material,” he adds. “The journey from exclusion to inclu- sion is an inner journey. That understanding – rather than ‘ We’ll give someone a house and life will be sorted’ – I think will be a precious thing.”
Josh Littlejohn, one of Social Bite’ sc o-founders, said he hoped the village concept would foster a sense of community lacking in current approaches to homelessness.
Mr Wallace says: “To have something like this … until you get somewhere more stable, it’s brilliant.”
Human beings are the epitome of social animals. So the idea behind Scotland’s first village for homeless people – to create a community where individuals can help one another to escape from life on the streets – almost seems obvious.
It is perhaps a surprise that such a scheme is not already the model of how to get vulnerable people back on their feet.
The charity behind the village, Social Bite, has spoken of how they can currently spend years in the “homeless system”, sleeping rough and in often- unsuitable temporary accommodation, a process that only increases their feelings of isolation, as they are tested to see if they “qualify” for a permanent home.
In contrast, the village will provide them with a “Nesthouse” and have a community hub where the inhabitants can eat and socialise together.
With support from staff of the charity Cyrenians, the plan is they will eventually move on to a permanent home.
It is extraordinary that in a few years Social Bite appears to have found a way to potentially achieve its ambitious goal of ending homelessness in Scotland.