THE article 'Homeless hit by sale of council-run hostel' had a statement from Marco Van Tintelen, project manager at the Trowbridge Action on Homelessness, which creates a very bad picture for families who are homeless or threatened with homelessness within the district.

The decision to close Ethandune was not taken lightly. The council had prepared numerous reports and considered many of the possible consequences of closure.

Ethandune is a Grade II listed building that is very costly to maintain under its current use as a hostel. Due to the extensive repair work required, we have not been able to use the hostel at its full capacity for over a year, and we currently have only two families, one of which is awaiting keys for a move into permanent accommodation, and one single applicant living there.

For the past year we have always had one or two vacancies at either one of our two other hostels. In fact, when this article was written, we had seven vacancies at Melksham and five in Warminster.

The council is fully confident that the closure of Ethandune will have no impact on any of our existing clients and all future homeless applicants will be offered alternative suitable forms of temporary accommodation.

Our housing needs team is always actively trying to work to prevent homelessness. We will continue to do everything we can to prevent homelessness; however, some cases are not preventable and we are aware that suitable forms of temporary accommodation should be made available by this authority. This is why a project group has been set up to ensure that the correct type of temporary accommodation is provided, taking into consideration current and future predicted need.

CLLR V FORTESCUE (Con)

Housing portfolio holder, WWDC