IN response to several articles that have appeared recently, I thank people for their support of the work that Threshold Housing Link is struggling to do to provide for the homeless in Swindon.

Threshold Housing Link (THL) has been helping local homeless people for over 32 years and has been planning a provision that would give the opportunity for up to 12 extra homeless people gain access to our basic level services and then move into more structured provision once their immediate needs and wants have been identified and dealt with.

This staged programme of resettlement is far more successful than just giving someone a house or flat and leaving them to fend for themselves.

Operation Golden Key will provide between four and six bed spaces for those homeless people, who have accessed Culvery Court and wish to concentrate on coming off drugs.

Moving these motivated people out of Culvery Court into the new provision will enable the direct access hostel to unlock more beds for those on the street, in fact up to a minimum of 12 more people a year will be able to be taken in. This number equates to the numbers of people who are currently being displaced from one car park to another and the numbers found on the last rough sleepers headcount in June 2004.

The people in the car parks know that they cannot expect to move straight into a flat and expect to survive. They know that they have to stop using drugs and change their lives but no one is providing them with that opportunity.

They really need a place where drugs and alcohol is tolerated but no one can deliver this desired place to be as yet. Nonetheless, THL are striving to provide such a provision in the future.

C SAWYER

Threshold Housing Link

Swindon