Hostel for homeless faced with a crippling fire bill

by Beth Webb
A CATHOLIC-RUN night shelter in the East End of London could be faced with a £164,000 bill for installing fire precautions.
Mr Larry Hindle, secretary of the Providence Row night shelter and home for the destitute, says this is "certainly the most difficult financial position we have ever been in". The hostel, which took in six of the women made homeless after the fire in the Missionaries of Charity hostel in North London two weeks ago, has had its problems highlighted by that very tragedy.
Providence Row which is staffed by the Sisters of Mercy
has just spent £34,000 installing basic fire precautions. They have now been told that an unofficial Greater London Council estimate for completeing the job would add another £100,000. On top of that, electricians installing the fire alarms recently discovered that the insulation of the electric circuits in the building was completely perished, and this would cost about £30,000 to put right.
Mr Hindle said that neither the Government nor the G LC would be paying anything towards these bills. "It costs at least £30 a week to look after one destitute person. If they are staying with us full time, we get £18.50 a week towards their upkeep from the Government, but not a penny towards the upkeep of the fabric of the place.
"There is a new bill before Parliament 'which will provide about f..500 towards fire precautions for places like Providence Row. But that is nothing compared to our needs," he said.
"There are 7,000 homeless single people in London alone, and no one wants to know".
In 1979, Providence Row served more than 62,000 meals to the destitute, gave a total of 23,000 bed nights to the destitute, and helped 40 families find accommodation.