A ‘dress rehearsal’ for life: inside the Manchester project helping homeless men rebuild
📖 Full Retelling
<p>Embassy Village offers 40 canal-side flats and support with budgeting, cooking and finding work, to help men start new lives and rediscover community</p><p>It costs a lot to live by the canal in central Manchester, with even the pokiest of studios renting for £1,000. But in Embassy Village, the city’s newest waterside community, residents do not need to be rich. Quite the opposite, in fact. To live there, you have to be male, homeless and ready to get your life back on track
Entity Intersection Graph
No entity connections available yet for this article.
Original Source
A ‘dress rehearsal’ for life: inside the Manchester project helping homeless men rebuild Embassy Village offers 40 canal-side flats and support with budgeting, cooking and finding work, to help men start new lives and rediscover community I t costs a lot to live by the canal in central Manchester , with even the pokiest of studios renting for £1,000. But in Embassy Village, the city’s newest waterside community, residents do not need to be rich. Quite the opposite, in fact. To live there, you have to be male, homeless and ready to get your life back on track. Nestled between the River Irwell and the Bridgewater canal, just across from the fashionable Castlefield district, Embassy’s 40 studio flats have been built under two Victorian viaducts carrying the city’s trams and trains. The land has been given for free on a 125-year lease by Peel Group, the developer behind MediaCity and the Trafford Centre. Peel owns the canal as well, which means residents can fish and kayak when they are not taking part in sessions on budgeting, cooking and getting ready for work. Embassy, the Christian charity behind the village, describes it as “dress rehearsal” for life back in bricks and mortar, cutting out the middle man of the shelter for homeless people. Chris, a 57-year-old former painter and decorator from the north-east, became Embassy’s first resident after spending most of his life on the streets “travelling from town to town with a tent”. When the Guardian visited, he was particularly enthused about the angling opportunities, hoping to beat his record of a 29lb carp. He seemed overwhelmed to have his own front door for the first time in years, and a view of the canal. “I’m very lucky,” he said, as he marvelled at the pristine white walls of his new home, his private wet room and his small but high-spec German kitchen, kitted out with Bosch appliances. “We want residents to feel like: ‘Wow, I’ve landed on my feet – I’m going to take this opportunity,’” said Embassy’s indefati...
Read full article at source