Go-ahead for homeless accommodation to replace closed Sheffield care home
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Members of the city council finance sub-committee agreed a plan to replace the former Knowle Hill residential care home on Streetfields, Halfway with 25 temporary accommodation units plus office space. The total cost of emergency hotel and B&B places in 2021-22 was £3.65m, a report to the committee said.
Dermot Reader, housing growth delivery service project manager, said that vandalism and anti-social behaviour had increased the dilapidation of the building, including water damage.
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Hide AdHe said that the building could not be easily adapted to provide the accommodation needed, so demolition is the best option. He said that could take place as early as next month, with plans for the new building up for consideration later this year.
LibDem leader Coun Shaffaq Mohammed said that ward councillor Gail Smith told him she would prefer the site to be used to relocate Halfway Nursery Infant School away from the main Station Road.
Mr Reader said that education department colleagues told him they had other priorities, focusing on other schools buildings that need urgent repairs. “There is no project looking at the relocation of the infants school to bring it alongside the junior school,” he added.
‘Share the frustration’
Coun Mohammed replied that he was disappointed, especially as the area is seeing a lot of new housing development. He said: “There is an opportunity to move the school away from a polluted area. I’ve nothing against a scheme to increase the (housing) stock, particularly the type of housing that we’re proposing here, I don’t have an issue there.
“There’s possibly an opportunity being missed here.”
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Green Coun Marieanne Elliot asked why it had taken so long to decide on a new use for the site, which has been empty for five years.
Mr Reader replied: “I share the frustration about how long it’s taken to move forward with it.” He said that reasons included pandemic delays plus the need to consult locally due to the sensitive nature of homeless accommodation and looking at possible refurbishment.