Woman dies at Wellingborough homeless hostel
Woman dies at Wellingborough homeless hostel
This is the second death at the accommodation in three years
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By Sarah Ward
A woman in her 20s has been found dead at an emergency accommodation unit used by North Northamptonshire Council.
The woman named locally as Chereen Scotland is understood to have been found in her room at the former Euro Hotel in Midland Road, Wellingborough on Saturday morning (August 6) according to sources who have spoken to NN Journal.
Northamptonshire coroner Anne Pember said yesterday results of a post mortem are being awaited and Northamptonshire Police has confirmed they were called to the sudden death and are not treating it as suspicious.
Chereen’s tragic death at the former Euro Hotel comes after the death of Jonathan Upex who died while living in one of the rooms in December 2019.
A review after his death found that Jonathan, who had a chronic illness and mental health problems was failed by a number of public agencies, such as housing, health and probation who should have been looking after him and that ‘opportunities to protect him’ were regularly missed.
Following Jonathan’s death the accommodation was closed down and it was reopened again last December after North Northamptonshire Council block booked the 17 bedroom building from owners Housing Support Network in a bid to provide more emergency accommodation for single homeless people in the areas.
It is understood Chereen had addiction issues and like Jonathan Upex had been a former prisoner.
At the time of deciding to reuse the hotel to house single homeless people the council acknowledged the difficulties in a report that was put before the conservative executive led by Cllr Jason Smithers.
It read: “The challenges of successfully operating a 17-bed homeless facility which would accommodate 17 vulnerable homeless individuals with a mix of complex support needs is recognised. There is a requirement for sufficient staffing and security measures to ensure that such a project is robustly managed to minimise the impact on service users, the local community and the Council’s reputation, particularly having regard to the history of the building.”
The council had block booked the facility until March this year and had used covid funding to provide security officers to the venue.
A person who knew of Chereen and works with the town’s homeless community said:
“That Euro is no place for a woman. It is meant to be a temporary stop gap and then people should move on, but what worries me is that it is getting harder and harder to get accommodation and these people with the worst problems have less chance.”
Cllr Matt Binley, North Northamptonshire Council’s executive member for housing, communities and levelling up, said: “We are saddened to hear of the death of a woman at supported accommodation in Midland Road, Wellingborough, and our thoughts are with her family.
“In line with our procedures we will work with partners to see whether a more ranging, multi-agency review will need to take place.
“As a report is being prepared for the Coroner, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”
Accommodation owner Housing Support Network has also been contacted for comment.
Read our story about the council’s decision to reuse the Euro Hotel
So another review to see why the lessons of the previous reviews were not learnt and the reviews before that?
The constant is the ineffective council leadership who carries out reviews and learns nothing.
The temporary accommodation for females is a joke!!! Placing them often in a male dominate environment. Bearing in mind many of the females have been subjected to domestic abuse.
Also for the males what support does anyone get!!!
As a council you group very vulnerable ppl within settings that are if honest below the standard of living and yet you deem it ok and expect the individuals to manage their mental health and get their life back on track!!
Put a local councillor in accommodation like this undercover for a month and give them a snip of the reality of what standard of living they expect vulnerable ppl to live in!