Trust seeks apartment for homeless

The accommodation is wanted by Bognor Housing Trust to boost its work helping those with nowhere else to go.

The trust's trustees have appealed for a flat owner to help them out with the offer of a suitable property or for donations to enable a flat to be bought.

Stan Nattrass, the vice chairman of the trust, said the purpose of the flat was to provide '˜move on' accommodation for the residents of its three other properties around Bognor.

'The idea would be to give them a few months in the flat at a less than normal commercial rent.

'Then, at the end of the period, help them with a deposit, to enable them to rent a flat of their own in the normal way,' he stated.

'The trustees feel that if this can be done it will be a good way to facilitate their residents getting back into the community and once again being able to have a job and fend for themselves, have self-sufficiency and become responsible for themselves.'

Bognor Housing Trust runs three houses in central Bognor with a total of 22 residents. Two of the homes are in Glamis Street and the other in Linden Road.

The trust was set up about 15 years to help homeless people without a home stay off the streets.

It has since given hundreds of individuals a room of their own with good facilities for cooking, bathing and doing their laundry.

Non violent former prisoners with no home to which to return, young people living rough and addicts trying to kick drugs have also been helped by the organisation.

The trust, a Quaker-sponsored concern, gives people in need up to six months in its homes. The period is used to try to re-establish themselves by getting back into society, getting a job and making new friends.

Anyone who can help with the search for a flat, by providing a property or donations, should contact: Laura Kottaun, Bognor Housing Trust manager, Cornerways, 25 Glamis Street, Bognor Regis PO21 1DH, on 01243 837995.