TWO centres for homeless families in Basingstoke are set to be saved from closure and another saved from being a regional hostel if plans are approved by the borough council’s decision-making cabinet next week.

As reported by The Gazette, councillors on the borough council’s economic, planning and housing committee supported a proposal to take over the running of services for vulnerable and homeless people from Hampshire County Council, at a meeting in July.

Following a spending review, the county council is changing the services it funds for people needing support to live independently from April 2016, reducing the services by almost half.

As part of the crippling Supporting People cuts which are proposed by the county council, Joshua Tree, in Worting Road, and Oakley Lodge, in Burgess Road, which provide accommodation for homeless people and families, would close and there would be reduced services for single homeless people.

The proposals from the county council would have also seen May Place, at The Top of The Town, become a regional hostel, reducing the number of places for those at risk of sleeping rough in the borough.

The proposed changes would have also impacted the amount of support available in other supported accommodation for single homeless people and housing support services in the community.

But members of the borough council’s decision- making cabinet are set to approve a proposal put forward by the local authority to take part in a three-year pilot scheme, at a meeting on Tuesday.

As part of the proposal, which has been supported by Hampshire County Council, the borough council will receive a direct grant of £746,468 for three years from the county council and they would add around £111,900 of its own funds to deliver joined-up housing support services with housing associations, charities, voluntary groups and other public sector agencies and businesses.

The scheme, if approved by councillors, would see May Place remain as a hostel for people with a local connection.

The Joshua Tree and Oakley Lodge facilities would be developed as temporary accommodation facilities with the council providing a £50,000 budget per annum along with an additional £35,000 per annum to help homeless people secure rent bond properties following stays at Joshua Tree or Oakley Lodge.

Deputy council leader, Councillor Terri Reid, told The Gazette: “Our plan became this localised model. What we really want is a kind of integrated service where all agencies and all people involved are drawn together and help deliver services and shape them.

“This new model is innovative and we are doing something which hasn’t been done before. If we didn’t step in, the impact would have been enormous.”