A charity has given up hope of housing people with complex needs in the Old Brewery, Portslade, shortly after Brighton and Hove News reported that the property owner had pulled the plug.
Saint John of God (SJOG) has given formal notice to NHS Sussex, the new integrated care board, and Brighton and Hove City Council of the change to its plans.
But SJOG said that it was committed to continue with the two contracts to provide supported housing even though it had been awarded the contracts without having appropriate premises.
The charity is currently looking for alternative sites after the Old Brewery’s owner Peker Holding London Limited said: “What we were told and what we believe now is going to happen does not match.”
SJOG’s contracts are worth £10 million over five years and involve housing and supporting people with medium to high needs.
The contracts are currently held by BHT Sussex, formerly Brighton Housing Trust, and the Sanctuary housing association.
SJOG planned to house up to 60 people with complex mental health needs, including recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, in the Old Brewery, also known as Le Carbone.
People were originally due to move into the premises at the start of this month although the former factory building is still undergoing conversion into flats.
The charity’s hopes of moving people into the Old Brewery were paused after it emerged that planning permission was required but had not been sought.
Hundreds of people attended public meetings in Portslade Old Village last week where they made clear their unhappiness at not being consulted in advance of the decision.
Some of those present contrasted the secrecy with the open and community-friendly approach adopted by Emmaus which houses up to 37 people with similar backgrounds in nearby premises.
One mental health expert said after one of the meetings that SJOG appeared to be trying to “warehouse” people, who under the current arrangements, were living more appropriately in several properties.
Some residents would have to share properties even though the contract appeared to require each resident to have their own front door. And there was a lack of communal space.
Another problem was that some people had bought the first homes at the Old Brewery, having been told that it was a luxury high-end development.
NHS Sussex and the council are understood be in discussions with BHT Sussex and Sanctuary to extend the current contracts beyond their end date at the end of next month.
At the first public meetings last week, it emerged that a decision was due imminently on how to go ahead with the service, given the need for planning permission.
But given that the lease negotiations have fallen through, the need to decide whether to drop SJOG has become more urgent.
