Residents of Pan and Barton have been praised for their support by the leader of the Isle of Wight Council after a new homeless shelter and recovery service was opened at the former Barton Primary School.
It follows multiple objections from residents across the Island for two other proposed hostels on the council’s homeless pathway, which in one case led to plans being scrapped.
Speaking at the full meeting of the Isle of Wight Council on Wednesday, Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox said she paid tribute to the residents near the school, now Howard House, for their agreement to the shelter, which opened earlier this month.
Howard House has the capacity to start the rehabilitation process for 17 homeless people.
Cllr Peacey-Wilcox also thanked Cllr Geoff Brodie for his hard work before the shelter opened, to ensure the community was comfortable and accepting of the hub.
Cllr Brodie questioned at the cabinet meeting last week whether the council’s lead on adult social care Cllr Karl Love would agree it was imperative and important that the provision of facilities to address the needs of homeless people required the approval of local residents.
He said: “Residents like mine did not object to the facility in any way, unlike so many other parts of the Island where house of multiple occupancies (HMOs) for homeless people are opposed so vehemently.”
Cllr Love said opening any provision needed the support of the community and also commended residents for engaging and bringing Howard House.
Other proposals for homeless hostels, in west Newport and Sandown, had been met with hostility from neighbours.
Two Saints, a partner with the council to provide the homeless pathway, put plans forward to turn two B and Bs into HMOs for those already on their homelessness recovery and ready to live independently.
On Leed Street, Sandown, plans for the former Hendre B and B were submitted but withdrawn after local resistance saw more than 30 comments and two petitions signed by nearly 160 people objecting to the change.
Residents said they were already “blighted by HMOs” in the area, “sick of the trouble they cause” and “would not feel safe” having the tenants on their doorstep.
Now, council documents reveal the backlash caused the seller of B and B to withdraw their agreement to sell to Two Saints, ending the application.
The documents say there is a lack of suitable and affordable properties for purchase on the Island and should that continue, the pathway would be significantly compromised and there would be an increase in homelessness.
Permission was given to the former Castle Lodge guest house in Newport to be converted into a HMO despite more than 60 objections, a petition and the application called in by the former local councillor, John Hobart.
It was given a three-year trial after councillors queried the lack of engagement with residents that had left people able to speculate when myth-busting could have been done.
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