Cornwall Council’s latest emergency accommodation site will shortly begin receiving residents.
As the Council continues its efforts to eliminate the need for short-term B&B or hotel accommodation to house those in urgent need of somewhere to stay, a temporary site at Rosewarne Long Stay Car Park in Camborne will provide safe and secure cabin-style accommodation for 18 people over the winter period.
It follows the opening of a similar site at New County Hall in Truro, which saw 21 self-contained cabin units installed.
The cabins, which are leased from specialist company Bunkabin, offer residents a bed, desk space, cooking facilities, a shower room and television and, importantly, somewhere to stay without the fear of short-notice eviction, as can be the case in B&Bs or hotels.
Olly Monk, the Council’s portfolio holder for housing and planning, said: “Earlier this year we said we would address the issue of emergency accommodation as a matter of urgency and that is what we have been doing, with the site at New County Hall now operational and this one in Camborne about to welcome its first residents.
“Our award-winning emergency schemes at Carrick Cabins in Truro and Long Rock in Penzance have been overwhelmingly successful since they were installed at the height of the pandemic, giving vulnerable people a safe and reliable place to stay.
“While these sites are temporary, a lot of work goes into bringing them into existence, in a short space of time.
“This has been achieved thanks to our in-house Housing Delivery Team, our construction partners, Cormac, and the Cornwall Housing staff that manage the sites and support those living there.
“These sites give us time to implement more long-term solutions, such as our landmark new move-on scheme that we’re building at Cowlins Mill in Pool and our flagship ‘Somewhere Safe to Stay Hub’ at Chough House in Truro.
“We are also buying and converting disused properties, as well as working to provide as many affordable homes to rent and buy as possible, with many of these being new council housing for social rent.
“Knowing that the housing problems need to be addressed in the medium and long term as well as immediately, we are putting our money where our mouth is with initiatives like buying 130 homes at the West Carclaze development in St Austell and making sure they will go to local people in need, rather than to the open market.
“We are also looking at ways that we can work with our established Registered Provider partners to accelerate housing delivery, too.”
The Camborne site, on which the Council’s in-house Delivery Team has worked with partners Cormac and Cornwall Housing, has been put in place at the rear of the long stay car park, with more than half of the spaces remaining available. The short stay car park is operating as usual.
As with the existing sites, there will be a 24/7 on-site security presence and the new residents will have full support to help them on their journey to long-term settled accommodation.
Tackling current housing pressures is a top priority for the Council. The Council is also continuing work to:
- Buy homes for social housing
- Build more Council houses
- Support the provision of more affordable homes by housing associations for local people to rent or buy
- Ensure sites deliver affordable housing through the planning process
- Unlock the potential for town centres to be regenerated to provide more housing
- Support community-led organisations that want to deliver their own homes
- Offer loans to bring empty homes back into use
Story posted on December 14, 2021