Plans to shut down a homeless unit in Greenock will be delayed until specific recruitment challenges are resolved, it has been confirmed.
The Inverclyde Centre in Dalrymple Street, which opened in 1944 and has space for up to 24 people, had been earmarked to close from this month but there will now need to be a change to the timeline.
A report on the issue will be presented at Inverclyde Integration Joint Board (IJB), responsible for oversight of Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), on Monday.
It explained: “The IJB previously endorsed plans to close the Inverclyde Centre by January 2026.
“These plans were centred around an agreed variation to Inverclyde HSCP’s service level agreement with Glasgow City to include an out-of-hours homelessness response on Inverclyde HSCP’s behalf.
“Glasgow City HSCP has faced recruitment challenges and the transition to the new out-of-hours model will subsequently be delayed.
“The service will continue to phase out the use of the Inverclyde Centre in a planned way and continue towards full use of community-based temporary furnished flats, but complete closure of the centre will be delayed until recruitment challenges are resolved.”
Some additional costs are anticipated due to the delay, the report added, but these relate to savings projected from closing the centre.
While it will take longer to deliver the identified savings, this has been offset by the postponement of payments to Glasgow City Council for the out-of-hours support.
