WARRINGTON Borough Council is extending a lease on a local hotel to provide accommodation for rough sleepers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They have leased the whole of the Travellodge on Kendrick Street – which can provide 45 rooms – for a period of three months, with potential to extend the period should this prove necessary and able to be provided.
In addition they have purchased security provision to ensure the welfare of people placed in the hotel.
Organisers of Warrington’s existing homeless shelter – which cannot operate at present because of social distancing requirements – are managing the project.
In a report to the council’s cabinet, deputy leader Cllr Cathy Mitchell says the council’s actions followed a letter from the government requesting all local authorities to offer, as a matter of urgency, all rough sleepers accommodation away from the streets where they could be safe and self-isolate.
The council has currently leased the hotel until July 1.
It follows a Government allocation of £545,000 to Warrington Borough Council to tackle rough sleeping and support some of the town’s most vulnerable.
