Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to manage the borough’s homelessness service

The council’s homelessness service will transfer to Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) on Monday 7 July.

The management of the travellers’ site at Pringle Street will transfer along with the hostel at Leopold Court, the Families’ Unit at Great Haworth and several flats across the borough which are used to temporarily house homeless people.

The move, which follows the transfer of the council’s social housing to RBH in June 2012, will save money and create a more streamlined service. It also follows similar transfers in Tameside, Oldham and Salford.

In the short term, the front line service will continue to be delivered from Number One Riverside and customers should go there as the first point of contact.

The out-of-hours emergency number will continue to be staffed and run by the council.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Cabinet Member for Housing at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “RBH have proven to be very effective at managing the council’s former housing since it was transferred to them, so we are confident they will do an equally good job running the homelessness service.

“Sadly, homelessness is something that can happen to anyone, so we’d advise anyone who is struggling with their rent or mortgage payments to get help at the earliest opportunity by phoning 0300 303 8548.”

Gareth Swarbrick, Executive Director for RBH, said: “The transfer underlines the confidence that the council has in RBH to address the borough’s housing needs. “We are looking forward to using our skills, experience and resources to help even more people in our community.”

Contact numbers for the homelessness service, which remain unchanged, and are as follows: 0300 303 8548 (daytime) 0300 303 8875 (out of hours)