City leaders approve plans for new 'homeless support hub' on Wearside, working with Salvation Army

Plans to create a new “homeless support hub” on Wearside have taken a step closer to becoming a reality, following a decision by city leaders.

Sunderland City Council’s cabinet of senior councillors, at a meeting this week, agreed to establish a partnership with the Salvation Army to create a new multi-service access hub.

The service would create regular opportunities that homeless people can access on a drop-in basis, including health and mental health-related services, housing advice and support.

In addition, the hub would also involve people with lived experience and enable them to directly contribute and shape future services, decision-making and investment.

The move follows the approval of Sunderland City Council’s Homelessness Reduction and Sleeping Rough Strategy 2023 – 2028 and associated Homelessness Action Plan last year, as part of a drive to support vulnerable people in the city.

This includes the need for a comprehensive response with support for people sleeping rough, homeless, or at risk of being homeless.

A homeless support hub service is already being delivered up to the end of March, 2025, elsewhere in the city but, according to a cabinet report, was “always agreed as a short-term solution”.

The proposed permanent hub, operating from the Salvation Army’s building at Swan Lodge, aims to provide a “more comprehensive and holistic provision for the long term”.

Sunderland City Council’s Labour cabinet approved the next steps for the “homeless support hub” project at a meeting at City Hall on March 14, 2024.

This included developing a joint working partnership with the Salvation Army and approving grant funding from the Inspiring Future capital programme to “enable the development”, with final costs to be reported to a future meeting.

Councillor Kevin Johnston, Sunderland City Council’s cabinet member for Dynamic City, said the homeless support hub would be a “valuable access and support point for those homeless and sleeping rough”.

Councillor Kelly Chequer, cabinet member for Healthy City, said the proposal could help tackle health inequalities on Wearside.

Cllr Chequer told the cabinet meeting: “As the chair for both the Health and Wellbeing Board and the drug and alcohol multi-agency partnership, we recognise intrinsically that those that are homeless and or sleeping rough are some of our most vulnerable residents.

“Many of these people also face significant health inequalities, so I’m really pleased to see that this has been recognised within this proposal and that the homeless hub has got combating those health inequalities as one of its core objectives.

“We all know having a partnership approach is vital to delivering positive health outcomes.

“I appreciate that the approach proposed within this is to create an access point with many services that will provide that much-needed health and wellbeing support to those vulnerable residents to help them move forward in a positive way”.

Councillor Linda Williams, cabinet member for children, learning and skills, added it was important to recognise homelessness as a complex issue with multiple causes.

Cllr Williams said: “It’s very much about different stages in life and different catastrophes sometimes that happen to people.

“It’s about how we as a city try and support people to make the best of it […] being part of the homeless working group myself I have learned an awful lot.

“You get to understand sometimes why people can find themselves in those positions, so I think it can happen to any of us”.

It is understood that the new homeless support hub will be provided across the ground floor and basement areas of Swan Lodge which will be “reconfigured” for the new use.

A council report notes the upper floors of Swan Lodge will “continue to provide temporary accommodation”.

The cabinet report adds: “As the details of the proposal and designs [for the new homeless support hub] begin to develop over the coming months more detailed costs will be known.

“It is proposed that a further report be presented to cabinet outlining the detailed financial implications and future partnership proposals”.