Selby SleepSafe, the charity that looks after homeless people in the town, says it’s lost its appeal to the planning department for a more flexible approach to the rules governing the operation.
The service is housed in temporary buildings on Bawtry Road next to the YorkMix Radio studios and Selby Superbowl.
Currently people can only stay for 56 days before they must move on.
Tracey Romaine, the manager, said: “Those rules were introduced to protect people, I do support those rules.
“It’s to make sure that councils can leave people in temporary accommodation longer than is necessary.
“My problem is, if we don’t have anywhere to house those people at the end of that 56 days, putting them back on the street is not beneficial to anybody.
“We cover 12 hours a day, seven days a week – so we form bonds. We’re genuinely compassionate about people’s needs and their futures.
“We work well with the council most of the time. It’s just these rules seem to be put in a little wedge in the in the door.”
We asked Tracey if she thought she would be able to take it further now that the council has refused to relax the 56 day rule which was part of the planning application to open SleepSafe in the first place.
“It’s a possibility whether that’s viable, as in affordable, I don’t know. “But it is a possibility. We’ll just have to look at it”
You must be logged in to post a comment.