Here’s what improvements could be made to accommodation for Worthing’s homeless

A West Sussex homeless charity has submitted plans to upgrade one of its accommodation sites and provide more rooms.
Worthing-based charity Turning TidesWorthing-based charity Turning Tides
Worthing-based charity Turning Tides

Turning Tides wants to provide five additional bedrooms in its HMO at 2 Manor Road, Worthing, bringing the total number up from 14 to 19.

Windows would also be replaced if permission is granted and facilities would be updated alongside redecoration.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The alterations would not see any major changes to the building, which is in a conservation area. Instead, layout changes would provide the extra bedrooms.

The charity says the remodel would allow it ‘to offer more space and better facilities for clients and staff’.

Catherine Hill, deputy head of operations at Turning Tides, said: “Our plans to increase the number of residential units from 14 to 19 will mean we are able to make a larger offer to the people we work with.

“At Turning Tides we firmly believe that everyone should have a place to call home.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“For almost 30 years we have provided thousands within West Sussex with a warm, safe and secure place to stay.

“The Manor Road service has been essential in our mission and in order to continue to deliver this we must improve, grow and adapt this service and the building to meet [the] needs of our community.”

Ms Hill added that the need for supported accommodation for those who have experienced homelessness ‘continues to rise locally’.

She added: “Increasing the number of units within this service will allow us to further support our local authority colleagues in our mission to end rough sleeping and to develop increased pathways out of homelessness.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Residents at Manor Road are supported by on-site staff, seven days a week and are supported by staff from the charity’s nearby Byron Road site out of hours.

They are given ‘tenancy readiness skills’ to help them to live independently or move to accommodation with a lower level of support.

There have been no objections to the plans for the licensed HMO but Worthing Borough Council’s environmental health department has advised that two of the proposed bedrooms will not be a suitable size for adult use.

Sussex Police also commented on the plans, saying: “Historically there are cases where houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) have given rise to instances of anti-social behaviour (ASB).

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“To reduce the risk of this occurring there will need to be stringent management control of tenancies.”

Turning Tides is the largest provider of services for single homeless people in West Sussex, with a key goal of ending local homelessness.

The charity runs 21 properties in the county as well as community hubs, outreach and specialist services.

More information about the plans can be found at the Worthing Borough Council planning portal using reference: AWDM/1458/21.