Isle of Wight homeless hub is tribute to tragic Howard

With the stark warning that rough sleeping is still a killer across the country, Cllr Karl Love, the council's cabinet member for adult social care said it is important the council moves forward into the future with homeless services.

He said: "It is totally unacceptable in the 21st century we have people sleeping rough on the streets still, it could happen to any of us."

Cllr Love cut the ribbon at the former Barton Primary School site today (Wednesday) while giving thanks to his predecessor Cllr Clare Mosdell for getting the shelter to where it was and driving the project forward.

Building on the success of its winter homeless provision and the then permanent shelter at the site in Newport, the Isle of Wight Council has now transformed the shelter into a more Covid secure facility, with more support, called Howard House.

It has been named after a gentleman named Howard Derham, a lawyer, who fell between the gaps of the council and died on the streets of Ryde, in 2017.

A review of Howard's death revealed housing, adult social care, health, the voluntary sector and substance misuse services were not working together.

Speaking at the opening today, the council's director of adult social care, Dr Carol Tozer, who is retiring at the end of August, said Howard's death was unacceptable and the hub was named after him because they have to learn from those instances.

She said: "It has been a long time coming ... this is the culmination and the start of what should be a much brighter, more positive, more holistic future for the homeless people on this Island who have a complexity of needs and issues which one serviced operating in isolation can never hope to deal with.

"This is a nice place to live temporarily, this is not some dump, and gives people dignity as homelessness robs you of dignity."

Dr Tozer said she was proud to be part of the team making this hub a reality.

Providing 17 rooms, built for all abilities, for those who need assistance getting off the streets, the shelter will also provide support and services from the Salvation Army.

The team running the centre.

Jamie Brenchley, the council's service manager for housing needs and homelessness said: "Our homelessness and rough sleeping strategy sets out an ambition for homelessness to be brief, non-recurring and a one-off occurrence.

"Howard House provides people with the foundations to rebuild their lives. It will wrap services around the person and give people hope."

The first people to get support at Howard House will arrive on Monday.

From left, Rachel Lee, homeless service manager Salvation Army, Matthew Smith, assistant regional manager for The Salvation Army’s Homelessness Services, Trevor Jones, Cllr Karl Love and Jamie Brenchley.