New houses for homeless men in Wolverhampton with hopes of more to follow
Men in Wolverhampton who are without a home or in danger of becoming homeless have received a major boost with a community interest company launching a dedicated provision for them.
Lotus Sanctuary, which already offers more than 1,000-bed spaces to vulnerable women, has responded to local need by initially opening two properties that will cater for six people.
The house of multiple occupancy and a two-bed flat is the start of a wider campaign that will hopefully create 50-bed spaces across the Black Country and the organisation is now appealing for other social-minded landlords to come forward and work together to solve this urgent issue.
Jasbinder Singh has already answered this rallying call and has provided a five-year lease for the first two properties in the city, giving residents security and the breathing space to help get their life back on track with support from Lotus’ ‘Passport to Independence’ programme.
“We have been working extremely closely with Wolverhampton City Council on tackling the issues of homelessness with women and have developed an approach that is really starting to work. We wanted to adopt something similar to support men who find themselves in the same situation,” explained Gurpaal Singh Judge, chief executive officer at Lotus Sanctuary.
“The property is just the starting point. Our focus is on understanding the individual’s requirements and working with them to develop a tailored path of help, advice and guidance that gives them the opportunity to regain their independence.”
He continued: “In order to make this happen, we need the area’s landlords to come forward and work with us on identifying suitable properties in the Black Country. Our first two locations are prefect and we’ve entered into five-year leases, giving the landlord a guaranteed return and, most importantly, security for the people we are helping.
“We are already looking at a number of other properties in local towns to get us to our target of 50-bed spaces, purely for men, by the end of the year.”
Lotus Sanctuary typically provides properties for two years and, during that time, will work with men in Wolverhampton to understand their issues before creating a bespoke ‘Passport to Independence’, including mental health and specialist support, access to training and a host of volunteering/employment opportunities.
Over the last six months, the CIC has trialled its male provision with successful pilots in Manchester and Hull and the results of these trials have paved the way for the Wolverhampton launch.
Gurpaal continued: “There are different challenges when helping men and our team of experts are fully trained in understanding what those are and ensuring they receive the best wraparound support to get them back on their feet and living a more fulfilling life.”
Jasbinder Singh, who is the first local landlord to support Lotus Sanctuary’s male provision, added his backing: “These are the fifth and sixth properties I have leased to this fantastic charity and the first they are using to house men.
“For me, the social impact is the major factor when working with Lotus. Landlords are often looked at negatively, so it’s great knowing that I am using my houses for the greater good.”
Over the last year, Lotus Sanctuary has grown from 24 units in the West Midlands to more than 1,000-bed spaces in seven out of the nine English regions.
Strategic expansion plans target 2,000 beds by 2022, with the biggest growth being in the Midlands and Greater London.
