Halton YMCA History

Halton YMCA was established in 1969 initially providing youth and community work to young people in Halton.

Halton YMCA LodgeIn 1974 following the establishment of the Warrington and Runcorn Development Corporation the organisation took the steps to provide accommodation and low-level support to young people in the Halton area and for students from Liverpool University on placements at ICI.

Initially the accommodation was located on the Southgate estate and took the form of 1, 2 and 4 bedroom shared flats.

The organisation continued to provide this level of service up until 1994, however with the establishment of the New Town Commission the Southgate estate was demolished and Hallwood Park estate was established. At this point the then Board of the Halton YMCA working in partnership with ICI and The National Council of YMCA's took the steps to build a purpose built site at Halton Lodge to continue to provide this much needed service to local young people and students.

This £3m development was part funded by ICI (£1m), the Housing Corporation (£1m) and the YMCA (£1m).

Active foyer development to help single homeless people

 In addition to these developments Halton YMCA is currently actively working in partnership with Halton Borough Council and Cosmopolitan Housing Association to establish a new Foyer facility in Widnes for single homeless people.

Significant Developments

In the 17 years following this Halton YMCA has continued to provide high quality accommodation and sought to establish and develop a portfolio of support services and interventions targeting homeless single people in Halton. These significant developments have included:

  • Foyer at Halton Lodge
  • Training Department
  • Y's Up
  • Runcorn Premises
  • Night Stop
  • Halton Lodge Remodelling
  • Move On Accommodation

The establishment of the Foyer at Halton Lodge in 1995 which focused on breaking the cycle of ‘no home, no job and no job, no home’. The Foyer itself gained full accreditation by with the Foyer Federation in 2001.

The creation of a dedicated Training Department to support the residents to break the cycle by providing targeted and specific training tailored to each individual’s needs. These training courses led to residents gaining City and Guilds qualifications. Since the establishment of the Training Department, Halton YMCA have successfully grown this service and now offer a variety of accredited education and training courses to local vulnerable people, including single parents, excluded school aged pupils, the NEET cohort and homeless people

The establishment of a bespoke information, advice and guidance service called Y’s Up. This service, set up in 1997, supports not only the current residents but also previous residents who had moved on to independent living but who still need support and assistance to find work or suitable training opportunities. More recently the IAG support offered by Halton YMCA, through Y’s Up, has spread throughout its entire Association and currently services students on foundation learning programmes, Night Stop clients, Hostel residents (past and present)and the community of Halton.

The purchase of a ‘town centre’ premises in Runcorn to provide drop in opportunities for those requiring information, advice and guidance. This project saw Halton YMCA invest significant capital into the premises and generate EU funding to realise the project. Currently this site houses, apart from Y’s Up, a local community organisation who provide specialist drug and alcohol IAG to local people. Working in close tandem with this group Halton YMCA are able to offer significant value added services from this hub facility.

The design and development of Night Stop a project targeting young people aged 16 to 25 years old who find themselves homeless and in urgent need of accommodation. The concept of the project involves working with local people in the community who are prepared to offer, at very short notice, a room in their homes to a vulnerable young person (bed, breakfast and evening meal and low level pastoral support). In addition the project works with the young people to identify more suitable longer term accommodation solutions these may include a variety of hostel provision or, via mediation between the young person and their family, to move back to their home if felt safe to do so. This is always the preferred option if possible.

Investing £2.3m of capital to remodel the site at Halton Lodge to improve the accommodation units, establish a ‘direct access facility ‘, create new education, training and recreational facilities which include a gym, music and recording studio, IT suite, training kitchen, office accommodation and a lift.

Investing in excess of £100,000 to establish semi – move on accommodation for residents moving out of the Hostel. The organisation is currently looking to test the most appropriate model for managing this in the community and once this has been identified the organisation will look to roll this out to provide other additional and specialist facilities.