Homeless 'pods' set up in Reading
The first of forty homes built in containers have been set up near Reading town centre
The first of 40 new ‘pod’ homes for homeless people in Reading have been set up near Cattle Market Car Park.
Five temporary pods are being delivered at the Abbatoirs Road site at back of Cattle Market Car Park and will all house single people and have 24/7 support from St Mungo’s.
All 40 pods are expected to be installed by August, with the hope that people can move in that same month and are expected to stay at the site for two to three years.
The RBC and St Mungo’s project is funded by a £2.3 million Government grant.
Chrissie Ashley, from St Mungo’s street outreach team, said:
“We have various panels and forums to discuss who is going to be moving in based on the people who are already working with and know about.
“It is a joint decision between RBC and St Mungo’s. It will be single people not families.
“We are really excited – both the staff team and our clients. It is amazing to be able to have a project like this.
“People who are homeless come from all walks of life and have all sorts of issues.
“It is an absolute mixed bag of needs and issues. Homelessness can affect absolutely everyone. The people who are living here will all come with their own histories and needs.”
There will be 40 metal container pods as well as two St Mungo’s office pods and one pod for laundry.
More than 260 people were placed in B&B/hotel accommodation in Reading as part of the Government’s Everyone In initiative during the pandemic, with more than 100 having now been placed in permanent accommodation.
The 40 people chosen to live in the pods will be people St Mungo’s is already providing support for.
The aim will be to get the residents ready to live independently within two years.
Councillor Tony Page, deputy leader of RBC, said:
“I am delighted that we have reached this point.
“It is unique. I don’t think many other authorities have gone down this route.
“Hopefully this will be a success in terms of helping with local housing needs and getting people off the streets and into a better lifestyle.”
The pods will help people “that have got some particularly difficult problems around alcohol and drug addiction as well as being homeless”.
He said there is funding in place currently to keep the pods going for the “first couple of years” but he hopes funding will continue afterwards and hopes the pod homes will become a model that can be rolled out elsewhere.
The pods can be moved elsewhere and are likely to move in a few years’ time, with plans to regenerate Cattle Market Car Park with a permanent housing development, which would be further away from the train tracks, in the next 5-10 years.