Star date: 10th February 2015

ABBOTT LODGE HIGHLIGHTED ON BEZ'S BED IN PROTEST

The plight of Abbott Lodge homeless hostel in Pendleton was highlighted on the first night of Bez's Bed In protest which is being beamed lived over the internet all this week.

Abbott Lodge, run by the Salvation Army, is one of the centres for homeless people being earmarked for massive cuts by Salford City Council, together with others including The Foyer and Project 34... "There'll be no more places for the homeless to go" said Bez.

Full details here...

Abbott Lodge, a twenty bed hostel for homeless people in Pendleton which is facing massive cuts from Salford City Council, was highlighted by Bez and partner, Firouzeh, during their first live-streamed broadcast from the week long Bez's Bed In protest last night.

"Homelessness is a subject that's close to my heart" said Bez as he recounted opening the Abbott Lodge Christmas fair last December (see previous Salford Star article click here).

"What we found out was that Abbott Lodge, run by the Salvation Army, is having funds removed in March and that is it then; there's no more places for the homeless to go. This place was looking after families that had lost their homes..."

Abbot Lodge is more than just a hostel. It was only opened in 2011 at a cost of over £2million and, as well as providing accommodation for homeless people, it also helps people to move on in their lives, providing what joint funder, Salford Council called "a new approach" to homelessness...

It would, stated Salford Council's website, give "residents the opportunity for developing independent living skills whilst still being able to take advantage of the hub's support and engagement activities, before moving on to live independently in the community."

Now Salford Council is proposing to pull that support as part of the cuts for 2015-16, as it gears up to slash its Supporting People budget by over £1.5million. Other homeless shelters including The Foyer and Project 34 are also earmarked for cuts as the Council states it wants to `change funding for sheltered housing' and `prioritise the Supporting People budget to meet the most vulnerable needs in Salford'.

Salford City Mayor, Ian Stewart, told a meeting of Salford City Council last month that the ConDem Government had cut the Council's £1.5million of Supporting People funding. But there seems to be some dispute about this, as the Department of Communities and Local Government told the Salford Star last week that Salford Council will receive £1.065million in 2015/16 of welfare funding, plus £545,300 from an extra £74million of welfare funding announced by ministers recently (see update on previous Salford Star article – click here).

Salford Council is currently in negotiations with all the homeless centres affected as to the exact amount of cuts they face. Meanwhile, Firouzeh argued on the Bed In protest that Abbott Lodge was "one of the only places where people in Salford who had lost their homes could go..."

Homelessness was just one of the topics discussed on Bez's Bed In last night. Also on the agenda was fracking, protecting the NHS, the controversial TTIP, the loss of legal aid and Bez's `edible landscapes' solution which he explained "we can use as our medicine cabinets, where we can grow our own food and create community again..."

Bez's Bed In continues all day today and for the rest of the week, with a live-streamed broadcast with guests, videos and a Q and A on YouTube between around 9pm and 10pm.

Further details at www.bezinbed.co.uk

Tweet questions to Bez @Reality_Party using the #BezInBed hashtag

See also previous Salford Star article on Bez's Bed In – click here