A pioneering initiative to create a new community for the city’s homeless and vulnerable men has received a massive £3.5m donation.
Manchester-based charity, Embassy, has joined forces with regeneration business Peel L&P and social impact developer CAPITAL&CENTRIC, as well as a pro bono team across the Manchester business community, to develop up to 40 new permanent homes at the Embassy Village.
Plans also include a village hall, lots of green space, mini allotments to grow vegetables and a multi-use sports area.
The project is also supported by the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity which is helping with fundraising for the project.
The plans will see a derelict site below the railway arches between the Bridgewater Canal and River Irwell, currently owned by Peel L&P, transformed into a housing-led community with lots of communal and green space, mini allotments to grow vegetables and a multi-use sports area.
Government figures released in February this year found that Manchester had England’s second highest number of people sleeping rough. The charity’s vision for Embassy Village is to provide a longer-term and sustainable way of helping to get the city’s most vulnerable men off the street by putting quality housing and wrap-around support at the heart of the solution.
The project has now been gifted a huge £3.5m donation by The Moulding Foundation, an organisation that aims to tackle social inequalities that exist in the North of England. It’ll ultimately pay for the construction of the Embassy Village
Jodie Moulding, founder and trustee chair of the Moulding Foundation, said: “We are hugely proud to be supporting Embassy Village with this incredible project, helping to reduce homelessness in Greater Manchester.
“The village will be transformational – in addition to safe housing, it will give residents the life skills, community support and access to the resources needed to lead thriving and healthy lives.”
Sid Williams from Embassy added: “To receive this extremely generous donation from The Moulding Foundation is just incredible and puts us in a position to get the village built sooner than we had expected.
“The latest government figures show that Manchester has the second highest number of people sleeping rough in England. This project is critical in helping us transform the way homelessness is tackled in our city, providing a long term and sustainable solution.”
The donation from the Moulding Foundation will fund the construction of the project, which will start later this year and is expected to complete in 2023.
