Conservative Executive Member Cllr Sam Lisle has invited Residents and business to see plans on 1 November for a single building to be converted to meet City of York Council’s accommodation requirements for temporarily homeless people. James House on James Street has been bought and is in the pre-planning stage.
Ahead of an application for planning permission being submitted in early November, residents are invited to see for themselves an exhibition of plans for the proposed 57 self-contained flats which will be owned and managed by City of York Council.
The project is being supported by a £2.365m grant from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).
The plans aim to consolidate into one building, much of the accommodation for temporarily homeless people currently scattered across the city. It will also replace the accommodation at Ordnance Lane.
At James House, it’s proposed that the more-easily managed building will include a public reception, staff offices, interview rooms and a training kitchen. It will have council staff on site from 8am to 8pm seven days a week, and will have on-site security staff outside those times.
In addition to the formal planning application consultations, the public exhibition of the proposed scheme will be held on Wednesday 1 November between 9:30am and 3pm at the Raylor Centre, James Street, YO10 3DW which is next door to James House itself.
Cllr Sam Lisle, executive member for housing and safer neighbourhoods, said: “This is an significant opportunity to deliver more cost-effective and even better managed temporary accommodation in a single, more central location. The additional facilities will help prepare and support tenants into lasting homes and I encourage residents and businesses to see what we’re proposing.”