Shoc were at council-owned Serena Hall Burlington Road for 20 years and voluntarily gave up their lease early as part of a commercial deal with the council according to the local paper.
www.sloughexpress.co.uk/gallery/slough/120816/slough-homelessness-charity-to-move-site.html
They moved to a church hall - St Michael's Church hall in Whitby Road last September.
“As a church we wanted to do our bit for the community. We were clear we wanted to help and they have agreed that they will pay for the use of electricity and so on but we won’t charge for use of the building. Letting them use it is part of our mission.”
www.oxford.anglican.org/tag/slough-homeless-our-concern/
St Michael's Church Hall is the current address listed at companies house but Shoc still need to change addresses on their online presence. Whether this or the distance of the new location accounts for a 50 percent drop in footfall, not sure, but a dip was reported.
Committee member Cllr Wal Chahal (Con, Upton), who works closely with Slough Homeless Our Concern (SHOC) said the charity has experienced roughly an intake dip of about 50 per cent since it moved to its Whitby Road site in September. He said its non-central location meant many homeless people either struggle to get to its day centre or do not know where it is and asked if SBC could help find SHOC a new home.
The charity only has the church hall until April.
www.sloughexpress.co.uk/gallery/home/126427/comedian-russell-brand-starts-petition-to-find-shoc-a-new-home.html
Council has allegedly asked why Slough has been brought into a Windsor problem (huff post)
Slough Borough Council has labelled the petition “bizarre”, adding that they were “bemused” that Brand was targeting Slough, rather than Windsor.
A council spokeswoman told HuffPost UK: “Perhaps he could direct his petition to the route of the issue as opposed to us mopping up an issue that is, of course, somewhere else.”
I am aware there's only a few miles in it - that said, the charity is daycentre rather than a night shelter. I assume it was viewed that Windsor homeless would be 'cleansed' to Slough although according to this, homeless might be moved out of Slough itself.
www.sloughexpress.co.uk/gallery/slough/126168/council-may-move-homeless-families-out-of-borough-following-report.html
So what you seem to have is the council having wanted to redevelop a site, a deal made - no idea what, to end the long-standing tenancy early, and a local church stepping in as a stop-gap. I assume the change of use cannot refer to the church hall as that would be to do with the diocese not the council, would have been done already and, in any case, it would not appear to be the ideal venue long term.
I agree that transparency in naming the building and what is being asked for is needed. But that in 3 months time it would be lovely for those that need help, actually having somewhere to go.
Shoc rely on donations to keep going
localgiving.org/charity/shoc/