PLANS have been submitted for a £1.5million extension to a Winchester centre that helps the homeless.

As previously reported, the Trinity Centre wants to build 11 bedsits on the garden at the back of the building on Durngate.

Director Sue McKenna said the scheme is so important that it could end homelessness in the city.

Ms McKenna said the extension would not be a hostel as each resident would have their own front door.

Homelessness has been increasing in recent years with an increase nationally of 170 per cent since 2010.

The 11 bedsits would allow Trinity to improve its support for people and help them in the long-term with their complex needs, as well as 24 hours a day.

Ms McKenna said: “This could end street homelessness in Winchester. That is a big statement to make. There are 20 people sleeping rough who would have somewhere to go.”

The scheme would fill a gap between the emergency provision at the Nightshelter on Jewry Street and places such as Emmaus at Bar End which offer a permanent home.

It would be the first Housing First project in the city. Housing First offers permanent, affordable housing to homeless people, and then provides the support and connections they need to keep their housing and avoid a return to homelessness. By addressing people’s underlying needs it aims to prevent the circumstances that leads people to living on the streets.

The aim is to complete the scheme by mid-2020 subject to planning permission.

Some £500,000 has already been donated by the Deflog VQ charity bequest, leaving £1m to be found. Applications are being prepared to various organisations.

Deflog VQ Trust was a military charity set up by Brigadier Tom Blyth whose son Ben was a client of both charities and died in 2010 aged 33.

A decision by the city council is expected in June.