Established 2005 Registered Charity No. 1110656

Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760

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Poor service at Centrepoint hostel

October 06 2011
 Cold water and no lifts (but amazing staff)

 

Homeless charity Centrepoint’s Greek Street hostel, in the centre of London’s Soho, had interruptions to its hot water supply early this year, and hasn’t had a lift in the four-floor hostel since November last year.

The failings at this hostel came to light when readers contacted The Pavement to criticise the high-profile charity, which has HRH Prince William as its patron.

Although making a complaint about the facilities at the hostel, the first reader to contact us did add that “the staff are amazing at their job and deserve much more praise then they get.” Readers’ grievances are with Centrepoint’s facilities, rather than its personnel.

Responding to lack of hot water, a Centrepoint spokesman told us: “Earlier in the year, it experienced difficulty with its boilers. The hot water was off for one week, then intermittent for three more weeks. Young people [the hostel is short-stay for 16-25-year-olds] were offered compensation for this period and encouraged to use showers in our Berwick Street service, which is a five-minute walk away.”

Regarding the lack of a lift in this property, the spokesman added “the lift at Greek Street has been out of service since November last year. There have been issues in getting it fixed, but we are confident it will be done soon as the parts have now been sourced and delivered.

“Centrepoint Greek Street does not accept referrals for anyone with a disability or mobility problems as there is no disabled access to the building. If we have concerns about a referred young person’s ability to move about the building, we would signpost them to another hostel.”

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