Homeless people will benefit from new housing scheme
Local households at risk of homelessness will soon be able to benefit from temporary accommodation as Bampton House (the former British Gas offices in Chandler’s Ford) is being converted into flats.
The scheme, which is funded and developed by the Council, will deliver much needed accommodation in a bid to tackle both homelessness and address the ongoing cost of living crisis. It will also help reduce expenditure by the Council on emergency accommodation such as Bed & Breakfast.
The Council purchased Bampton House in Chandlers Ford and have entered a contract with a local housebuilder to convert the former two-storey building into thirteen one and two-bed self-contained temporary accommodation flats for households who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Cabinet Lead for Regeneration Cllr Paul Bicknell said, “This is a very exciting Council project transforming the building into high quality self-contained flats. It will provide vulnerable homeless/threatened homelessness households with temporary accommodation as a steppingstone to a permanent home. Bampton House also enables local people to remain in the Borough and allows easier access to the services in Eastleigh needed to support in securing a permanent home.”
He added, “Most importantly, boosting the supply of temporary accommodation will reduce the Council’s reliance on emergency accommodation such as Bed and Breakfast which is often outside of the borough and never an "ideal" situation for anyone to be in, as well as reducing the Councils costs for using them which in turn enables the Council to use those funds in better ways to help homeless people.”
It is planned that following completion of the conversion works; the first homes should be available to be occupied by the end of 2023.