Our aspirations for Damascus House

Alabaré has been helping homeless people in Salisbury since 1991 and key to this has been our hostel Damascus House, which has been operating successfully for over 12 years. In this time, our team at the project have supported over 700 people, through the 39 bed-spaces available.

As one former resident said recently Damascus had helped him turn his life around.“A lot of people do not understand how much we need compassion and really appreciate a helping hand to overcome addictive behaviour.”

Despite the relative prosperity of Salisbury, there is a real need for services to help homeless and vulnerable adults in the city. Our aim to help those in need address their current/past issues, build the skills and confidence they need to break the cycle of homelessness, and move positively towards sustainable, independent living.

Over the last 2 years, we have been working in partnership with Westlea Housing Association to address the needs of Damascus House and provide the best accommodation for the project to operate in.

We plan to redevelop the Barnards Cross site in Barnard Street, Salisbury where Damascus House is situated. We are seeking to: develop a hostel that provides a homely living environment; provide a safe environment for all; provide additional facilities for more vulnerable residents and to meet our environmental responsibilities.

The new Damascus House will have small clusters of bedrooms, with each bedroom having its own shower and toilet and each cluster having its own lounge, kitchen and dining room. We wish to avoid the institutional feel that can be found in the existing building.

A safe environment will be provided with a well designed reception area, accessible from Barnard Street with door entry systems and staff offices and sleep-in rooms nearby (Damascus House is, and will remain, staffed 24 hours per day). This will support the effective management of visitors and residents and will be a massive improvement on the current access arrangements.

For more vulnerable residents the building will have 2 accessible bedrooms and a lift, again a significant improvement on existing facilities and ensures compliance with Disability Discrimination Act requirements.

The design of the new Damascus House maximises daylight and includes grey water recycling, reducing energy demands and costs, it will also have a bicycle store.

In order to help residents build skills and opportunities for employment or further education, the new hostel design includes a training café, an enterprise room, IT facilities and learning rooms for the delivery of course such as our widely respected It’s Your Move pre-tenancy training course. The hostel will also have a safe space for residents to socialise.

Beyond Damascus House

What happens to people who are ready to take the next step to independence and move on from our hostel? Continued success at this critical stage of an individual’s progress is heavily dependant on the availability of suitable move on accommodation. Although Salisbury District Council and its partner organisations have made great strides in this area over the last couple of years further provision is required.

We plan to provide move on accommodation for Damascus House residents by converting our Emmaus House building next door into flats. The move on flat residents will receive low-level staff support as they make the transition to more independent living. The close proximity of the flats to the training facilities at Damascus House means that residents can continue training activities and maintain social networks.

The design of the Emmaus House flats will preserve and restore the historic features of this listed building, addressing maintenance issues and ensuring the structure is in best order.

The redevelopment supports Salisbury District Council’s Homelessness Strategy. The Council has agreed to a capital grant towards the cost of the building project and funding applications are also in hand to Government. Wiltshire Supporting People have supported our proposals and allocated revenue funding for the ongoing running costs of the project.

Our first planning application to redevelop Damascus House was turned down in early October 2008. We reviewed our plans in line with the issues raised and revised draft plans were available for public viewing at Damascus House on Thursday November 20th and a second consultation was held on Wednesday December 17th.

A revised planning application was submitted in early 2009 and formerly registered with Salisbury District Council. At the 25 June 2009 planning committee meeting of the new Wiltshire Council councillors voted in favour of development.

The current plans can be seen here by opening the links below:

Damascus House Plans     Damascus House Plans 5

Damascus House Plans 1   Damascus House Plans 6

Damascus House Plans 2   Damascus House Plans 7

Damascus House Plans 3   Damascus House Plans 8

Damascus House Plans 4

We are now working with a number of funding bodies to take the financial arrangements forward and will also be making a major funding appeal to the voluntary sector. Detailed plans for the building work, which will be carried out by Westlea Housing Association, and arrangements for temporary housing of the Damascus House residents during the development are being put in place.

June 2009