A PROJECT to give homeless people in Swindon a place to stay has been scrapped because a national charity can no longer guarantee its financial backing.

Swindon homeless charity Threshold Housing Link (THL) has been working for the past four years on a project to provide a place for people to stay while they battle with drink and drug addiction.

The Open House was to be based at a building in Milton Road but the plans for the centre have been scrapped because the funding which THL was expecting from Crisis is no longer guaranteed.

Crisis initiated the idea for the Open House when it contacted Threshold four years ago.

When it first came up with the idea, Crisis said it would be able to fund the project with £94,000 a year for three years. The project was reaching its final stages with organisers hoping to open the centre later this month, when Crisis contacted THL to say it would not be able to guarantee the money would be available.

THL's hostel and resources manager Phil Smith said the news that the money will not be available is a devastating blow to Swindon's homeless.

"The Open House would provide a place for people to go while they are trying to fight their addictions, before they move into one of our hostels," said Mr Smith.

"We have been working for four years, drawing up business plans, working with the council and Western Challenge Housing Association and contacting local businesses.

"The sad thing is that we have been able to secure funding from a number of local businesses and charities, but without the funding from Crisis the project just cannot go ahead."

The news comes at a particularly bad time as homelessness is on the increase in Swindon.

Figures compiled by THL show that there has been an increase in the number of homeless people in Swindon each year for the last three years.

In the last year THL helped to provide accommodation for 246 people but had to turn away 460.

The building in Milton Road will still be used to help homeless people as it will be established as a second stage accommodation a place where people can go when they have left a hostel but are not yet ready to move into a place of their own.

Cate Pownall, spokeswoman for Crisis said no commitment had been given. "We have attempted to broker funds from charitable trusts, but unfortunately this has been unsuccessful," she said. "We are ready to offer advice in helping find alternative charitable trusts to fund the project."