Chichester Foyer to close

The Chichester Foyer '“ which provides accomodation and support to vulnerable young people - is to close.

The news has today been confirmed by the Home Group, the non-for-profit parent charity, which said the Chichester Foyer is due to shut in mid December.

The charity insisted none of the 60 youngsters currently living there will be left homeless and said a lack of long-term certainty was behind the move.

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Audrey Mitchell, Home Group director of service delivery, said: “We’re proud of the work we have done to support young people in Chichester since 2003.

“After 14 years we’ve reviewed how we use the Foyer and whether there are other groups we can support.

“As a not-for- profit charity we rely on external sources of funding to run our projects.

“We also rely on long-term financial certainty and during the last two years funding to run the service has been limited to 12-month contracts.

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“Additionally changes to Housing Benefit are affecting young people and would not allow us to provide the high level of 24/7 support we currently provide.

“We informed the local authority and our colleagues at the beginning of this year that we had made the decision to no longer run this young people’s service.

“The service is not due to close until December.”

All of the 16-25 year olds living at the Chichester Foyer, in Velyn Avenue, have been informed, Home Group said.

Mrs Mitchell said: “We’ve announced the change early and clients have responded very positively saying they appreciate the long notice period.

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“Clients stay at the Foyer for an average of 12 to 18 months and many will naturally move onto independent accommodation before December.

“No-one will be made homeless and we’ll work with clients and the local authority to find alternative accommodation for everyone.”

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