Darron Brown

The organisation now has ten properties which can be used as temporary furnished flats to help to ease the plight and suffering of families who are homeless.

Darron Brown, chair of Wellhouse Housing Association, said: “Earlier this year, we were aware of the homeless situation turning into an even greater crisis as a result of COVID-19.

“In response, we immediately increased our efforts by providing more properties to the local authority so that homeless families would have a comfortable home to self-isolate and to be able to move out of less suitable accommodation.

“Wellhouse Housing Association has always taken pride in our commitment to assist those who find themselves homeless or threatened with homelessness.

“We are very well aware of the stresses and longer-term effects that homelessness brings to individuals and families, and we continuously work with partners to alleviate the problems people face.”

WHA has supported Glasgow City Council’s Homeless Services for a number of years through the provision of properties to be used as temporary accommodation. The organisation is also committed to ensuring that a proportion of its properties are let to homeless applicants so they can enjoy all the benefits of having a permanent home.

In response to a request from the Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, WHA is increasing its allocation of lets to homeless applicants from 35% to 50% until March 2021 due to the current challenges they face.

This commitment also extends to fully supporting Glasgow City Council in their housing first approach. The partnership working with the council has also enabled WHA to increase its housing stock with a ‘buy back’. Grant aid from the local authority allowed the organisation to purchase the flat which then went to a homeless family.

Darron added: “We believe that everyone is entitled to their own permanent home, and that any stay in temporary accommodation should be as short as possible. To this end, we are continually exploring the opportunity for temporary homes to become permanent ones for those who want to settle in our community.

“While our Wellhouse community are very welcoming and hospitable, we are also very careful to prioritise others on our waiting list who have housing needs, as we strive to create a healthy, well balanced community.”