HUNDREDS of people have signed a petition demanding the council reinstates funding to a 40-year-old homeless charity.
Petitioners are upset after Cheshire West and Chester Council left Chester Aid to the Homeless (CATH) off the short-list when homelessness services were put out to tender.
Homeless champion Cllr Jill Houlbrook argued the current service was not up to standard with regards to customer service, accommodation and support.
Now more than 500 people have signed a petition, most through an e-petition on the authority’s website, with the aim of reaching 1,500 to trigger a full debate at full council.
CATH supporter and petition organiser Vicki Bulgin of Hoole, said: “I’m hoping to show the level of support and church support that CATH enjoys.
“If you look at the pre-qualification questionnaire as part of the tendering process, you needed to get 72%. CATH scored 23.2%. How an organisation which has done such sterling work for 40 years can score so lowly is beyond me. Many people would not know there was a homelessness problem because CATH picks them up.”
Ms Bulgin understands the council wants the homeless looked after in en suite accommodation away from the city centre.
“There’s nothing wrong with en suite facilities but one organisation I’ve read about said we used to have 31 rooms and now we have 17 en suite so it’s a balancing act.”
She added: “CATH cares and supports people in terms of appropriate housing, health, education and employment.
“The existing city centre locations are perfect because they are non-residential.
“In future homeless people will still gravitate to the city centre but there will be nobody to pick them up. Having facilities in a residential area could create a potential problem.”
