Our New Staff Accommodation
Back in the summer, soon after Jenny Davies was finally registered as our Head of Homes, we had a crisis of homelessness for one of our staff. Dan and his friendly dog Luna were renting a house. The owner lived abroad, came back and had to self isolate for 14 days: Dan had to move out for the safety of our residents as much as anything. He had nowhere to go so, in this emergency, we found a room for him in the old unused part of Castle Hill House – far from ideal, but a temporary solution.
Fourteen days later Dan returned to his house to find that it had been sold, the builders were in and Dan and Luna were now completely homeless. A few nights in a tent was not the best of ideas for a valued team member caring for vulnerable adults in one of our homes. Renting accommodation when you have a dog is never easy and it wasn’t for Dan. So Jenny put on her incredibly resourceful thinking cap.
There were unused rooms in the home and three of them almost interlinked. With financial help coming from the Government via Dorset Council for “staff well being”, these have been transformed into two bedsits and a kitchen. Our maintenance staff have worked wonders, furniture has been found and the bedsits are up and running.
Dan and Luna are our first tenants. We heard this week of another team member who may well need accommodation very soon: there’s a spare bedsit here to be used!
Oh and as well as this development, staff facilities have been improved with the provision of showers – bliss after a shift before you face the outside world again.
