[Diggers350] Gary Neville's Manchester hotel for the homeless closes its doors

Fri Jan 29 01:03:06 GMT 2016

Thanks Tony

Nice to read something uplifting in the midst of all the sh*t going down.

Regards

Clive

On 29/01/16 00:51, Tony Gosling tony at cultureshop.org.uk [Diggers350] wrote:
>
>
>   *Gary Neville's hotel for the homeless closes its doors*
>
> Tearful scenes as last winter residents leave former Manchester United 
> player’s building facing uncertain future
> The former Manchester stock exchange is being turned into an up 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/gary-neville-praised-but-homeless-leave-footballers-hotel-for-uncertain-future#img-1> 
> Diane 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.theguardian.com/profile/dianetaylor> 
> Taylor 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.theguardian.com/profile/dianetaylor>  
> Thursday 28 January 2016 19.04 GMTLast modified on Thursday 28 January 
> 201622.03 GMT
>
> http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/gary-neville-praised-but-homeless-leave-footballers-hotel-for-uncertain-future
>
> The former Manchester United star Gary Neville 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.theguardian.com/football/gary-neville> 
> closed the doors of his hotel to homeless people, after allowing them 
> to stay there rent-free with a package of support for more than three 
> months.
>
> The building in the centre of Manchester, which is to undergo 
> extensive renovations before opening its doors to paying guests, was 
> occupied in October by a group of squatters and housing activists 
> called the Manchester Angels 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/https://www.facebook.com/streetangelsUK>.
>
> Instead of the response of other property owners – rushing to court to 
> obtain an order to get the uninvited residents evicted – Neville and 
> business partner Ryan Giggs told them they could stay, not just for a 
> few days, but throughout the coldest months of winter. “From my point 
> of view, I’m quite relaxed about this,” Neville told an activist, 
> Wesley Hall, at the time. He added that for the past 10 years he had 
> offered support to homeless people he had seen on the street while 
> walking through Manchester 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/manchester>.
>
> The homeless residents promised to keep the building clean and tidy 
> and not to cause any damage to fixtures and fittings. In return 
> Neville ensured that his unexpected guests were kept safe in his building.
>
> He put in security and management teams at his own expense and 
> provided regular meals from his Hotel Football to the new residents. 
> It is estimated that he has spent up to £150,000 on keeping the 
> project going during the winter months. Meanwhile, Manchester 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/manchester> 
> city council contracted the housing organisation Riverside to work 
> with people in the building.
> Gary Neville was applauded for his attitude to the homeless, in 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/gary-neville-praised-but-homeless-leave-footballers-hotel-for-uncertain-future#img-2>
> Nathan Newman, who volunteered at the project, said: “That first night 
> when all the homeless people in Manchester heard that Gary Neville was 
> opening up his hotel to them every single person’s face changed from 
> miserable and downcast to pure elation. They knew that someone cared 
> enough about them to do a thing like this and that meant a lot to 
> them. There was a real surge of energy and optimism.”
>
> There were many tearful scenes on Thursday as the arrangement finally 
> came to an end to allow major building work on the 23,000sq ft former 
> stock exchange to begin. Those leaving with their small bags of 
> belongings, hugged the security staff and promised to keep in touch. 
> Many were effusive in their praise for Neville but many were uncertain 
> about what will happen to them next.
>
> Ash, an Iranian asylum seeker, was one of the first ones to enter the 
> building and one of the last to leave. He said he had no accommodation 
> to move on to. “I have been getting panicked in the last couple of 
> days about what is going to happen to me now. I have been able to 
> sleep safely for the last three months because the security people are 
> here.
>
> “When you are sleeping rough every noise scares you and wakes you up. 
> I got into a routine of waking up every morning, going down to the 
> kitchen for breakfast and having a chat with the security people. It 
> was like living in a big family. I’m really going to miss all that. 
> But I have some really good people in my life now that weren’t there 
> before, like Rob, the head of security. He used to buy us all coffee 
> and cake every day. The stock exchange has been a lucky place for me.”
>
> The project has not been without its problems.There has been a 
> considerable turnover of homeless people with some leaving and new 
> ones arriving. At its height there were around 40 homeless people 
> staying there. In the early days there was a lot of idealism and optimism.
>
> The fact that a wealthy football star and businessman had done 
> something like this inspired many of the homeless people to dream that 
> their miserable circumstances could change forever. But some 
> complained that they were given inadequate support to help them tackle 
> their many and complex problems including drug addiction and mental 
> health problems.
>
> Wesley Dove, another of the residents leaving on Thursday, said he was 
> committed to supporting other homeless people and was keen to try to 
> get a new model established to help homeless people where they can 
> access everything under one roof – accommodation, food, support, 
> counselling, treatment for addiction and other healthcare.
>
> Dove praised Neville for opening up his hotel to homeless people but 
> said he was concerned that as a result homelessness had become 
> temporarily less visible and so people had forgotten about what a 
> major problem it is. “The council opened up two night shelters but 
> they will close in March. So many people will just be back on the 
> streets. Some new squats have opened up in the city centre but they 
> are dangerous places. The hostels are not good places.
> []
> “They can charge a higher rate of housing benefit because there is 
> supposed to be support in there but we often don’t get any. And we 
> have to leave by 7.30am every morning and go back onto the streets. We 
> need some real solutions to homelessness. If anyone would like to help 
> set something up with all the services under one roof please get in 
> touch with me.”
>
> The activists say that homelessness in Manchester has risen by 150% in 
> recent years. According to the latest statistics published by Crisis, 
> 280,000 people in England approached councils last year 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.crisis.org.uk/data/files/publications/Homelessness%20briefing%202015%20EXTERNAL.pdf> 
> seeking assistance, while 7,581 slept rough on the streets of London, 
> a 16% increase on the previous year. The latest figures released by 
> the Empty Homes Agency 
> <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/28/http://www.emptyhomes.com/> 
> says that there are currently 610,000 empty homes across the country.
>
> 
>

-- 
Clive Menzies
Political Economist
+44 (0) 7836 601378

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