Cherry Tree View has a large glass entrance. Inside the doors, the reception area is light and modern. When you walk in, the heat immediately warms you from the chilly air outside. A young woman sits on a couch in the reception talking to her small child in a pushchair – a friend comes to meet her and they head outside chatting.
This is Newcastle's answer to housing for homeless families. Beyond the reception and through the key fob protected corridors lie 45 flats, suitable to house families of any size. Admittedly, it does not feel like homeless accommodation, which often has a preconception of being dark and dingy. Instead it is light and airy with colour coded corridors, which give it a bright and cheerful feel.
Sandra Raistrick, a Manager at Cherry Tree View which is located in the Elswick area of Newcastle, said:
"It's not good at all for families to be confined to one room like that – it has been a long time since Newcastle stopped doing that and that makes us more proud of what we’ve got here."
Newcastle City Council has not used Bed and Breakfast accommodation to house families since 2006. Families were previously sent to temporary accommodation in Pitt Street in Newcastle before Cherry Tree View was built to replace it two years ago. It is clear that it was designed with families and children in mind, which Sandra says is down to the fact the staff were very involved in its design.
The alternative to this in many cities across the UK is that families are being placed in Bed and Breakfast accommodation. While many people believe B&Bs are like hotels, homeless charity Shelter outline how these are actually businesses run only for those who are homeless. Families will be given one bedroom to sleep in, but will often have to share bathroom facilities. Research by the charity shows that almost half of families involved said their children had witnessed disturbing incidents, including threats of violence, sexual offences and drug use and dealing while staying in accommodation like this.
Contrastingly, Cherry Tree View is very family orientated. Children can access a children's centre while their parents get support with finding housing. Sandra said:
"Children from all over the world can come here and mix and learn to accept each other. We get some cases where children have been bullied because of their situation or they were the bullies and this helps them to mix and understand others better."
The children’s centre is empty at the moment as it is the middle of the day, but Sandra explains that in a few hours it will start to fill up with children coming to the after school club, either to play, or for older children, to get help with their homework. Members of the children’s charity, Children North East, will help them.
Jeremy Cripps, Chief Executive of Children North East, said: “Parents are often in crisis, which means they have little 'headspace' for their children so it's good for the children to have somewhere to play and other people to talk to. We have also worked with parents to try to ensure families move on to new, permanent accommodation and children are settled in new schools as soon as possible.
"Our focus has been to try to ensure children continue to have a childhood while going through the trauma of moving, leaving their home, neighbours, friends, school and in fact everything that was familiar, and moving into temporary accommodation. It is akin to being a refugee."
While walking down one of the colourful corridors, which certainly make it easier to navigate round the building, Sandra greets a couple with a daughter around three, who is frustrated she can't play in the park outside because of the rain – it is clear the staff here know all of the residents personally. She later explains: “It’s important they have someone to talk to. Sometimes they just need a bit of support… A little help will benefit them greatly in moving on.”
The kind of support offered to those living in accommodation like Cherry Tree View is not accessible to families living in B&Bs, which are classed as 'unsupported’ accommodation. An IPPR North report details that this can make it even harder for families to make the transition to permanent housing.
The most recent data reveals that across England, 2, 270 families with children were living in accommodation like this at the end of 2015. This is an 11 per cent increase from the same time in 2014. A Freedom of Information request submitted for this investigation shows that contrastingly, the majority of councils in Nothumberland, Tyne and Wear and Durham have actually reduced the amount of times they are using B&B accommodation, although some do still use it. The graph below shows the details:
The results show that while Durham’s numbers of family homelessness are decreasing, they are the only council looked at who have increased their use of B&Bs. A spokesperson for Durham County Council said: “We have access to 41 self-contained units to include move on support across County Durham suitable for families and children which range from 1 to 3 bedroom properties depending on the family make up. These properties are equipped with essential starter pack items and a food parcel.”
A spokesperson for the Chartered Institute of Housing said one of the reasons for the number of families becoming homeless was due to the ending of tenancies in the private sector, which accounted for 29 per cent of all homeless applications in 2014-15. She added:
“Rising rents, a lack of affordable housing, and falling incomes have put extra pressure on household finances and there is a real concern about the lack of genuinely affordable for housing for people on low incomes and for those who rely on housing benefit to help pay their rent.”
Back in reception at Cherry Tree View, a young boy enters with his mother and the man on reception cheerfully asks him how his morning at nursery was. Having looked around Cherry Tree View it is clear that while this is not a long term solution for families like his, it is a supportive place for them to call home before being moved back into permanent accommodation.
Sandra is proud of what they have achieved. Before leaving, she looks around and adds: “We can’t make families’ situations go away, but we can try our best to make it as good as we can for them.”
