Hampshire charity left concerned as homeless hostel set to close
A hostel that's been supporting homeless people for the last 20 years will close in March due to recent council cuts
A Hampshire charity is telling us they're concerned more people will be facing the challenges of being homeless as a hostel service is shut down.
Two Saints will close the doors of a Gosport Road hostel and a residential house in March after facing council cuts.
Janice Hughes, Chief Executive of Two Saints, is telling us the concerns she's hearing from current users of the service.
She said: "They're really scared and worried about what their futures are.
"There was a man who came in who'd been talking to the housing team and hadn't realised the service was going to be closing, and that after March he'd have to move on.
"He didn't know where he was going to move on to.
"There was another client who has a dog and obviously finding any kind of affordable accommodation that will take a dog is difficult.
"So her options were to surrender the dog or she said she'd get a tent.
"When you look outside your window and you look at what the weather's like, would you want to be in a tent in this weather?"
She's telling us her concerns for the future.
Ms Hughes said: "We remain concerned about what's going to happen to the clients who are being supported now and also those that are out there who will need support in the future.
"We provide 24/7 support, we have staff on site 24/7.
"So we're very concerned and we're also very sad because the services have been there for over 20 years, and they've done such amazing work with people.
"We have a very tolerant approach with how we support people and we tend to give them more than one chance, we enable people to move on, and that's the point for us.
"We need to be there alongside people who have experienced trauma, whether that be in childhood or rough sleeping is a traumatic event in itself; to a point where they can maintain their own tenancies and contribute to society.
"So our concerns are that the current offers in the work we're doing with our partners are likely to be very short term.
"Without the ongoing support, people are going to fail in their tenancies and more people will be sleeping rough."
We've reached out to Hampshire County Council for a response.