SBC’s Executive Committee rubber-stamps closure of homeless accommodation

An Armed Forces veteran was driven to the brink of suicide after being moved into rundown homeless accommodation in Kelso, it has been revealed – as senior councillors rubber-stamped its closure.

Maxmill Park is a site providing homeless accommodation for 14 households.

It comprises four two-bedroomed units, eight one bedroomed units, and two bedsit units. This includes provision of one disabled access unit. The facility has provided short term emergency housing within the Borders since 1994.

But due to reports of anti-social behaviour the facility has been “stigmatised” and is also very badly run down.

When Scottish Borders Council’s decision-making Executive Committee met on Tuesday, May 14, members approved its phased closure over a number of months.

The facility is to be closed and sold and the resulting shortfall in the need for temporary homeless accommodation will be met with the use of registered social landlord (RSL) properties.

Councillor John Greenwell, for Mid-Berwickshire and also SBC’s champion for Armed Forces and Veterans and Equalities, said: “I think this is long overdue because I had the unfortunate experience of visiting a veteran being housed in Maxmill Park and I was appalled. The veteran was suffering from mental health issues and putting him in there made him even worse.

“His mental health deteriorated to such an extent that he was thinking of doing the unthinkable. I could not believe what I was looking at. Surrounding the property there was disused furniture that had been taken out of the house. In the property the cooker didn’t work. This report coming to us today is very appropriate and I agree with everything in it.”

Kelso & District’s Councillor Tom Weatherstion said: “This facility has provided a vital service to people who were really desperate for it and really appreciated it for many years, and it got them through a difficult time in their lives.

“The report says it became a housing facility in 1994 but what it doesn’t say is that it was built as holiday chalets at least 20 years earlier to that, and they were the Butlins/Pontins-type chalets, plasterboard and wood and you can hear next door’s telly without having your volume down.

“The place isn’t fit for purpose, people deserve better and if you have got nine single units it’s obvious you are going to get nine single folk, but you can also have a family in there with children and this mix doesn’t work.”

Tweeddale East’s Councillor Robin Tatler said: “It is a difficult decision to be making at a time when we have an increasing requirement for temporary accommodation but the key bit here is that what is provided there is not fit for purpose. So we have to make this decision and there will be challenges in terms of meeting the requirements that we have for homeless short-term accommodation.”

Kelso & District’s Councillor Euan Robson thanked the facilities staff who have looked after the accommodation, saying: “They have had to deal with difficult circumstances from time to time. Not only the physical nature of the place but also some of the anti-social behaviour.

“I’d also like to thank the local community for putting up with what has been at times some very difficult and challenging behaviour and I know a couple who have had to move away from the area because of what they have experienced.”

Councillor Robson, who also thanked local police for their “outstanding service” in dealing with difficulties at the site, added: “If this site becomes vacant I’d ask that it is secured and boarded off so that there is no access to it because it might become a magnet for all sorts of activities which none of us would want to see.”

A report to the committee said: “The site has been used by Homelessness Services for a significant period, during which a minority of residents have perpetrated anti social and criminal behaviour, resulting in the facility becoming stigmatised.

“This impacts homeless applicants placed in the facility who are negatively stereotyped.

“The communal-type model of this facility is not considered to be positive practice, with the varying and complex needs of homeless applicants having to be managed carefully.

“The anti-social and criminal behaviour has had an impact on the local community around the site and resulted in several concerns raised by elected members and partner agencies.

“It has been reported by police that they have experienced increased calls to the site to manage anti-social and criminal behaviour impacting on the local community on a cyclical basis.”

The extra cost to the council of utilising RSL properties is estimated at £100,000 a year.

The Maxmill Park site has a sale value of approximately £150k which would provide a one-off capital receipt.

The report adds: “Phased discontinuance of Maxmill Park will mean a shortfall in temporary accommodation provision. It is intended to address that shortfall through RSL provision. If this proves unachievable, this will compel SBC to place homeless households within bed and breakfast or hotel accommodation at the estimated costs of £74,360 per annum.”