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On Friday 13 May we celebrated the official opening of Mechanics House – a new £2m capital investment in accommodation for homeless people in Nottingham. The new building provides self-contained one bed flats and 24-hour support for sixteen local people with complex needs at any one time. It replaces a 30 year old hostel with shared accommodation which had long passed its use-by date.
As our Chief Executive Andrew Redfern said: “Even in tough times we must find a way to improve the quality of the accommodation we provide for people in need: there is no doubt that good accommodation leads to better outcomes – helping people to establish stable lives in the community”.
This project was made possible by a three-way investment partnership between the government’s funding agency Homes England, Nottingham City Council and Framework itself.
Lord-Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire and Framework Patron Sir John Peace joined us to perform the official opening ceremony and also to honour the memory of the late John Christophers – a distinguished board member who helped to establish Framework as well as to stabilise the finances of one of Framework’s predecessor organisations, Macedon.
We have also been raising the profile of our work in North Lincolnshire, and recently welcomed the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, Tim Strawson, to our Anvil House supported accommodation service in Scunthorpe.
Mr Strawson is committed to helping homeless people across Lincolnshire during his year in office: this was a good chance to explain our work in Scunthorpe and across Lincolnshire.
Commenting on his visit he said: “It’s an amazing facility where there is so much great work being done by enthusiastic people who love what they do. The residents are benefitting and growing. I met a lovely lady named Pearleen who showed us around her flat. She’s got ambitions to become a counsellor which is amazing. Anvil House has turned her life around.”
We were also delighted to meet with staff at Nottingham-based DHP Family to say a huge ‘Thank You’ for once again raising an astonishing sum – in this case £76,055 – at their one day music festival Beat The Streets back in January.
We’re absolutely blown away by the generosity of DHP staff and management, the 60 acts who gave their services, and around 2,500 people who bought tickets. As ever the money raised will go to improve the lives of homeless people in Nottingham and will continue to help us carry out our life-changing work.
