Judge halts eviction on Eccles homeless shelter project

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A homeless shelter project faced eviction after housing homeless people in a vacant doctor’s surgery.

The Saving People Shelter Project in Eccles were served with legal papers relating to 15 homeless people were currently occupying a property on Liverpool Road by NHS Property Services on 7 January.

The project has been up and running since November 2018 and has helped people with training and gaining jobs, working with organisations including the Broughton Trust and the Salford Unemployed and Community Resource Centre (SURC).

The property operated from an empty doctor’s surgery that had been closed since November 2018 and provided a refuge during cold winter months for people sleeping rough.

On the 31 January 2019 The Saving People Shelter was given an extension on staying in the property by the Manchester Civil Justice Centre while preparing a legal defence.

The Eccles Saving People Shelter today lost the right to stay in the old doctor’s surgery it has been occupying since November, providing a roof over the heads of up to two dozen homeless people… https://t.co/sgvKrnjCN7 pic.twitter.com/HkKZAT2heX

— I was a JSA claimant (@imajsaclaimant) 31 January 2019

The judge ruled in favour of NHS Property Services which owns the old doctor’s surgery that had homed the 15 homeless individuals.

However residents and facilitators say they will not leave the property until the individuals were properly accommodated.

A day later on the 1st of February 2019, the judge had ordered a ‘stay’ whilst the court discusses the merits of an appeal.

The case continues.