Homeless charity’s sudden closure cost council £80,000
Access Community Trust announced last Wednesday that it was closing.
Keeping homelessness services afloat has cost a council £80,000 following the sudden closure of a charity.
Access Community Trust, based in Bevan Street East, Lowestoft, announced last Wednesday it would close down with immediate effect.
The sudden closure, announced to East Suffolk Council two days before, left the authority to make emergency arrangements to ensure those using its services had a place to stay.
To date, the council has been able to find a permanent solution for 75 of the 87 beds, through new service providers, while the remaining 12 are in different temporary locations.
This has so far come at an unavoidable cost of £80,000 from its reserves.
On Tuesday, cabinet members agreed to start procuring homelessness and rough sleeping services through contracts totalling £4.9 million in Government funding over the next three years.
Cllr David Beavan, the council’s lead for housing, said: “These services form a critical part of our local pathway, reducing crisis demand, improving outcomes and enabling people to move away from rough sleeping into safe, sustainable accommodation."
"Access Community Trust would have been one of those providers."
Speaking on the closure, Cllr Caroline Topping, the authority’s leader, said there had been no red flag around the charity when the contract was awarded last year.
She said: “We’re all quite shocked and sad for an organisation that had been in existence for 50 years.”