Calderwood House

Calderwood House is an emergency homeless hostel consisting of 10 rooms of en-suite accommodation. We are based in Egremont, West Cumbria, at the site of the old police station. Though most of our residents are from the local area, we also prioritise ex-service men and women. Our dedicated team provides round the clock support, 365 days a year to provide our homeless with a safe, warm place to stay whilst they get back on their feet and move on to a better, brighter future.

Rachel Holliday, our founder, is so passionate about homelessness due to being homeless herself as a teenager and working in the supported housing sector for several years in West Cumbria. Rachel could see first-hand the impact on the lives of people who had nowhere safe to live.

Around that time there were 1.4 million empty properties in the UK. 70,000 of these were government owned costing everyone money to keep them shut. Rachel & Richard Rhodes, Police and Crime Commissioner at the time, identified the former Police Station in Egremont as one of those sites. Working together with Copeland Borough Council and Day Cummins Architects, plans were drawn up to convert the former Egremont Police Station into an 10 bed en-suite hostel with priority given to ex-service men and women. We agreed a £1 per year peppercorn rent over 25 years which means we can keep our overheads down to a minimum.

Following a large Capital grant from Copeland Community Fund we were able to complete the £363,000 build in 2015. The doors to Calderwood House opened on 1^st October 2015 and we have been serving the community ever since.

Calderwood House is the only emergency homeless hostel solely for homeless adults (25+) in West Cumbria.

At the very heart of Calderwood House, we believe that to enable people to live a better life they need;

1. Somewhere safe to live,
2. Something positive to do (work, volunteering, education / training)
3. Kindness / compassion.

Rachel has shown that investment in homelessness works and of that she is living proof. Over the years we have seen hundreds of people in desperate need enter Calderwood House and leave to live a better and brighter future.

The front-line staff members deliver a tailor-made support package and guide their residents through a unique 12-week Housing Recovery Programme to address housing options, improve their financial situation, improving physical and mental health well-being and highlighting with the resident their “potential”.

Once a resident has identified a new home, we provide access to our Outreach Worker who will assist with the transition of that person ensuring they have everything they need going forward. This could be support with furniture, setting up housing benefit claims, ensuring that the resident does not feel forgotten, and they have regular visits to their new home.

We have found by building in this extra support service, we have had a decrease in repeat referrals and better outcomes for the residents themselves.