New site found for hostel used by murdered Emma
THE homeless hostel where murdered prostitute Emma Caldwell was last seen alive is finally to be closed. Inglefield Hostel in Govanhill, Glasgow, is the only large hostel for homeless women remaining in Scotland.
It dates to early last century and can accommodate up to 75 women but is now regarded as being badly rundown.
Women have single rooms measuring only 8ft x 4ft, have to share toilets and cooking facilities and the level of support available to some of the most vulnerable is deemed inadequate.
A recent survey found 47% of the women had suffered domestic abuse, 7% were victims of sexual abuse in childhood, 16% had been raped or sexually assaulted and 20% were prostitutes.
Around 73% also had drug or alcohol problems.
The body of Emma, 27, originally from Erskine, was found in Biggar, Lanarkshire, in May 2005. She had last been seen alive leaving the Inglefield Hostel the previous month.
Glasgow City Council has now identified a site in Hawthorn Street, Possilpark, for the new hostel.
On Friday it will ask the executive committee to back the plan. If approved, it will consist of 25 en-suite rooms with cooking facilities, communal space, treatment rooms and staff accommodation.
It will allow for a careful assessment of an individual’s needs before they are allocated appropriate long-term accommodation.
Archie Graham, the council’s executive member for social care, said: “There are a great number of misconceptions about people affected by homelessness, but homeless women form an extremely vulnerable group, with many of them fleeing domestic or sexual violence.
“Thankfully, the new centre will give these women a safe and stable environment that will provide the kind of dignity and privacy any of us would reasonably expect.”
It is not known when Inglefield will close because that will depend on finding the cash for the new centre.
The council has closed three male hostels in the past three years. The last remaining male hostel closed on April last year.
