Hosford Community Homes
240 Newtownards Road Project
We are working to develop an innovative, housing focused project with the vision of creating a community where everyone has a place to call home.
This project will see the redevelopment of 240 Newtownards Road, a primarily empty building, into 6 private apartments and a community relations space. Each of the 6 apartments will provide a home for those who are ready to take the next step and leave our homelessness hostel, or for those affected by homelessness for whom moving into a hostel environment would be detrimental to their lives and progress towards independence.
Residents will be able to benefit from both having increased independence, but also being connected to the services and support of Hosford Homelessness Services. For each hostel resident we can create a home for in a new apartment, we will help a further homeless person who can then move into the vacated hostel place. By providing these apartments we can really make a difference in addressing the homeless crisis in Northern Ireland.
For more information about this project you can email us at hosfordhomes@ebm.org.uk
The Need for this Project
This unique project, among the first of its kind in northern Ireland, will address the needs of people who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness. In Northern Ireland in 2020, there were 16,802 households presented as homeless. In March 2020 there were 38,745 on the social housing waiting list and 27,745 were in ‘housing stress’ at risk of losing their tenancy.
The project will focus on the needs of single people who are unable to access social housing and struggle to find a safe and affordable pathway from hostel accommodation into the private rental sector or who are at risk of losing a tenancy and becoming homeless. This includes young people, people with mental health and addiction issues, refugees and asylum seekers. The project will specifically target people with lower support needs who primarily need housing. While the hostel is the best place for clients with complex needs, it is not necessary for these individuals, however as these individuals do not have high needs they do not get points to access social housing and face barriers to housing access such as the high cost of private rental and landlord prejudice. This project will remove all of those barriers and will help these individuals access housing while leaving rooms free in the Hostel for individuals with complex needs.
