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Spaces for Change
The music studio at Coventry YMCA
This briefing is about good practice in the design of spaces for homeless people; well designed hostels and day centres and particularly the spaces within them that facilitate meaningful activity. Many of the projects featured have been redesigned and refurbished under the government's Hostels Capital Improvement Programme (HCIP).
Hostels
The Department for Communities and Local Government's (CLG) Hostels Capital Improvement Programme has made funding available to rebuild and refurbish hostels across England and to improve their facilities, with a strong emphasis on making them places of change for homeless people.
Much of the focus of the HCIP has been on creating spaces within hostels to allow meaningful activity, such as education and training. Some hostels have flexible spaces that can be used for a variety of activities, while others have specialised facilities, such as music studios.
photo Tony Dodson
Some Examples
- Coventy and Warwickshire YMCA is an HCIP-funded project that has a floor of enterprise units leased to local businesses, including a recording studio (above right) that involves the residents. The scheme features in the CLG booklet on the HCIP.
- Virginia House is an accommodation scheme under development in Newcastle, which aims to transform the current provision to make the building more inclusive and less institutionalised. It will have a learning area, a gym and exercise area and a music room and studio. See the plans (pdf file 183 kB)
- St Mungo's rolling shelter in Rushworth Street, South London (right) has been refurbished with HCIP money. Although a lot of the funding had to be spent on damp-proofing works, it has a new lifeskills kitchen.
- The Salvation Army Housing Association's (SAHA) Swan Lodge hostel in Sunderland has an activity centre in its basement level, with an education room for information technology and basic skills tutoring, an arts and crafts room and a life skills kitchen.
- Victoria House in Manchester has a number of purpose built rooms including a training room with a kitchen and a computer suite offering computer skills and Basic English and Maths.
- Press House in Brent (right) provides temporary accommodation for homeless families but includes a newly refurbished community space for residents and the wider community. Activities include music workshops, drama classes and sports initiatives The Brent Homeless Families Group activity space includes a glass egg room that is non institutional and allows parents to do their laundry while keeping an eye on their children using the cleverly designed walls as climbing frames.
- Crewe YMCA operates a 72 bed foyer for people between 18 and 25. It has a training suite on the back, which is open and welcoming and has a number of training suites and a music studio.
- North East Lincolnshire Womens Aid in Grimsby has exemplary facilities for women who have experienced domestic violence. These include a peace garden, a childrens activity room, homework room and a Women's Centre where women can be taught skills that will help them when they are resettled, including DIY decorating and repair skills. See Places of Change events.
Day Centres
Day centres have many aims, including providing advice and advocacy, food and a warm, dry and safe daytime space for homeless people, but the best have meaningful activity at their core. Again, some spaces offer specialised activity while others are more flexible, allowing for a range of activities.
Examples
- The Booth Centre in Manchester has a wet garden that was designed by its service users and has won awards. Its aim is to tackle the social exclusion, boredom and low self esteem that street drinkers experience by involving them in the practical work of creating and maintaining a pleasant garden.
- Shekinah mission in Plymouth (right) offers training for the construction industry.
- NOVAS has developed a community space in Liverpool with a theatre, workshops and exhibition space.
- SOLAS Cymru in Newport has an excellent activity centre that includes a fully equipped recording studio, an arts studio, drama and creative writing groups, a woodwork department, a ceramic catering workshop, IT facilities and a catering department.
The National Day Centres Project produced a building design guide Better by Design for day centres. This is still available from Homeless Link