Mentally ill people being left homeless despite available housing says charity
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Your support makes all the difference.Mentally ill people are being left homeless despite there being available housing, a leading charity has said.
Suffolk House recovery house in the London borough of Barney, Haringey and Enfield is being used as a “dumping ground” for those who have been discharged from psychiatric hospitals without housing measures in place, according to Rethink.
There are 12 spaces at the unit, which is supposed to be allocated for two weeks at a time to help people coming out of hospital to get back on their feet. But despite there being enough social housing available in the area, the centre’s manger, Laurie Armantrading, confirmed that a lack of coordination between NHS trusts and the social housing sector meant some service users were being left there for months at a time.
“Housing trusts like B, H and E [which is home to St Ann’s, one of the biggest psychiatric hospitals in England] no longer have the coordination to move people through the system,” Armantrading said. A Rethink spokesperson added: “After two weeks these people are ready to leave but there is nowhere for them to go.”
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