Lyndhurst Road Service Closure

September 2022

One of Turning Tides’ residential services, located in Lyndhurst Road, Worthing, closes on the 23rd September. Turning Tides runs over 30 projects across West Sussex, 21 of which are residential. The Lyndhurst Road service had to close because the lease came to an end; all other projects remain unchanged.

Since opening in 2018 the Lyndhurst Road project has been extremely successful in reducing homelessness in the Worthing area. It has been a pioneering high support service, using a harm minimisation model, to help some of the most complex and multi-disadvantaged clients within our local community. Over the years, the dedicated team at Lyndhurst Road have supported 168 people, many of whom had fallen through every other safety net within the wider system.

The Lyndhurst Road building was generously loaned to the charity by Roffey Homes, on a peppercorn rent for a fixed period of up to five years. We are very grateful for their generosity. Since acquiring this short-term project, we worked hard over the last five years to develop a replacement, but unfortunately our first opportunity fell away with Covid.  As a matter of priority, Turning Tides investigated several other properties but were unable to find another viable building. Consequently, the people staying at Lyndhurst Road are being supported by Turning Tides and our local authority partners as individual accommodation solutions are sourced for them.

Turning Tides runs several other high support projects and strives to adapt and grow to meet the increasing need for its services. Planning permission has recently been granted for a new 21 bed service in Worthing, ‘Skywaves House’ in Ivy Arch Road. This is planned to open in 2024.

Turning Tides’ Chief Executive, John Holmstrom, said:

“We are extremely proud of the Lyndhurst Road service, and the Lyndhurst Road team, and we are very grateful to Roffey Homes for making it possible. There is no doubt the project has saved numerous lives over its duration. Across our region, there is a huge shortage of high support residential projects like this that can ‘catch’ people with complex needs, and who have often endured a long history of trauma.

We are deeply sad to close the service and tried exceptionally hard to source a similar building, but this has not proved possible. All our other services, including our vital drop-in community hubs, remain unaffected and we will continue to support anyone who comes to us for help. As our local community faces rapidly escalating living costs, and homelessness is predicted to rise by third, our services are needed more than ever.”

A former resident of Lyndhurst Road explains his experience:

“When you live on the streets, you just can’t see how you are going to do anything else with your life. It takes everything out of you to just survive and you lose hope of achieving anything else. Gradually, depression, despair and embarrassment took hold and as my circle of friends decreased, I had no one to turn to. I simply survived.

After living on the streets on and off for 5 years, I was offered a room in one of Turning Tides’ accommodation on Lyndhurst Road. It was the first time in a very long time that I felt safe and had a reason for living.

My keyworker gave me incredible support as well as the space I needed to work things out myself. Having an address and my own room gave me both security and head space to start thinking about the possibility of a future. I also feel incredibly lucky. Turning Tides helped to turn my life around.”

Further information:

Any questions about the above can be emailed to communications@turning-tides.org.uk, or please phone 01903 680740 and ask for the Communications Team.

As always, if you see someone who is having to sleep rough, please enter the details onto the Streetlink website. This important resource connects this information with the appropriate local councils and charities so they can locate the person and provide support.

Turning Tides has been helping people out of homelessness for 30 years. The charity’s life-saving services rely on the generous support of its local community. If you would like to make a donation, please do so here. Thank you – your generosity will make a direct impact on the life of someone experiencing homelessness.