Concerns raised over plans for new Horsham homeless shelter

The homeless charity Turning Tides is seeking temporary planning permission to convert buildings at Roffey Place in Old Crawley Road that were previously used by Kingdom Faith Church as a theological training centre.

But local residents are voicing concerns over homeless people ‘with a variety of substance misuse and psychiatric issues’ living in the area.

In letters of objection to Horsham District Council residents say that accommodation for homeless people ‘is not compatible with the existing agricultural and residential neighbourhood.’

Others have voiced fears of being ‘attacked’ and say they are worried about posssible previous offenders living near to a children’s nursery in the area.

But Turning Tides say they will have 24-hour staffing, CCTV cover and an alarm system.

In a statement, the charity said: “Roffey Place will provide a pathway out of homelessness for single adults, meeting the needs of the local community and supporting our ambition to end local homelessness.

“Roffey Place will be a short-term accommodation service, where the needs of each individual are assessed and supported.

"In due course individuals will be supported to transition from Roffey Place to suitable longer-term accommodation that also meets their needs at that time.

"The Roffey Place service will be for local homeless people who have suffered multiple and often prolonged disadvantages throughout their life.

“As such residents of the service will typically remain in the service for between six and nine months during which time, they will be supported to develop the skills and networks to be able to live independently in the community.”

The charity says it will provide 24-hours a day staffing including waking night cover and specialist support ‘from highly trained suppport workers.’

Turning Tides says it has more than 30 years’ experience of running homelessness services across West Sussex.

It adds: “We believe that everyone should have a place that they call home where they feel safe, valued and supported in order to make positive changes in their lives.

“As of March 2022, Horsham District Council were providing temporary accommodation to 34 single households and emergency accommodation to 31 single households, compared to April 2021 when three people were accommodated in emergency accommodation.

"This is a 933 per cent increase.

“At a time when homeless presentations continue to increase the need for this service in Horsham becomes even more crucial if we are to stem the rising tide of rough sleeping and social exclusion.

"This will be the first high support residential service within Horsham and development of this high support offer will ultimately support the district in its ambition to end rough sleeping within Horsham.”

The charity says that all residents of the shelter will be subject to a “robust referral and assessment process and will be required to have a local connection to West Sussex.

"Priority will be given to referrals for those with a local connection to Horsham.”

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