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Innovative Leeds Residential Development To Help Alcoholics
A £2 million scheme has now got underway on Regent Terrace in Hyde Park in Leeds intended to help support people recovering from alcohol addiction, the first scheme of its kind in the city aiming to help people down on their luck find their way into the mainstream housing system.
It’s being run by homelessness charity St George’s Crypt, the Yorkshire Evening Post reports, and will eventually be made up of 14 studio and one-bed apartments.
The charity’s Martin Patterson explained that developing these kinds of purpose-built houses has been an ambition for the organisation for a long time and it is now “hugely rewarding” to see work start on its first project.
“We want to encourage people who are firmly committed to improving their lives. The wider programme offers a multi-faceted support base where residents live together, participate in therapy sessions and carry out voluntary work, which helps to address addictions in drugs and alcohol as well as equipping them for life after recovery,” he went on to say.
Being built in conjunction with Leeds City Council, the project is expected to be finished by next summer, with the site in question previously occupied by another St George’s Crypt building that has now been demolished.
Back in February, the news source reported that St George’s Crypt had to operate at almost double its normal capacity because of sub-zero temperatures at the start of the year. It usually accommodates 30 people or fewer, including 15 permanent residents, but found itself making room for 40 people because of the weather conditions… so it seems that this kind of scheme, providing even more housing capacity for those in need, is essential for the city of Leeds.
St George’s Crypt itself has an incredibly interesting history, first starting off as a way to help people in the times of the Depression who were dealing with despair, hardship hunger and enforced idleness. It grew from there, helping people during the second world war find rehabilitation and shelter. In 1954, Faith Lodge was opened to help men who needed to rehabilitate before reintegrating into society, as well as serving as a drop-in centre for women and families.
It became a registered charity in 1967 and has gone from strength to strength since then, even setting up a social enterprise in 2010 – St George’s Crypt Nurture Community Interest Company. It was set up to provide training and engagement opportunities in both horticulture and catering.
Nurture first started off as the catering side of the Crypt charity, providing meals to clients and training opportunities to anyone who wanted experience and new skills. Now there is a café at Armley Town Street, a partnership between the charity shop and Nurture to provide work experience opportunities inside a community space. There’s also a café in the Holy Trinity Church on Boar Lane.
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