A man from Salford who sold his home to cover the costs of building a new homeless facility in the city is celebrating its opening.
James Worthington’s facility, which cost nearly £1 million to construct and has been in development for three years, finally opened for struggling people last Wednesday on Seedley Road.
Worthington, from Salford, said that the space has already had had a profound impact on those who have moved in. He said: “One of them has told me that I’ve saved their life, that was an emotional one.
“One of the residents that came in was tearful, saying last week they were staying in a bedsit with no water and no heating, and a couple of weeks before that, I (the resident) was sleeping in my car.”
Worthington, who himself struggled with homelessness as a teenager, said: “It’s heartwarming, this is the reason why I’ve done the Homeless shelter, it’s important to change people’s lives.”
The facility itself was massively helped by the community, with James saying, “I’ve had the good people of Salford, some people do work for free, Marshals and MKD donated all the Bricks for the site, and Travis Perkins donated the Block.”
People who donated directly to the project have their names now ingrained into the brick at the front of the building.
There is plans for two more people to move into the shelter weekly until it is at max capacity.
James said if he had a message for people who were like him when he was younger, saying “No matter what circumstances your under, and I have been under certain circumstances in my time, never give up.”
The facility has a high surveillance system surrounding the property as well as a team to help to the residents get back into work.
What a wonderful thing to do. Be great if overpaid footballers and so called pop stars did something like this for their neighbourhood