Some of Liverpool's homeless community are set to be moved into a city centre aparthotel to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
Liverpool Council will move to rent the Vincent Aparthotels, spread across two buildings on Stanley Street, as accommodation for the second phase of its plans to house homeless people safely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is set to cost the council £430,000 over the course of four months.
The council's usual homeless provision has faced huge upheaval since the outbreak of the disease, with its services at Labre House and the Whitechapel Centre having to be closed due to an inability to have people distancing from one another within the buildings.
The city has also been participating in the government's emergency program to get rough sleepers off the streets during the pandemic, though the future of that program has now been put into doubt.
A report set to be approved by cabinet on Friday says the council has already been using Stay City Aparthotels to house some people, while others were being housed at in student flats via Liverpool YMCA.
The report says it has proved difficult to refer people into the YMCA student accommodation, which is significantly cheaper, due to the numbers of people that need to shield and the extent to which living facilities are shared between people.
It says: "The self-contained facilities with staff on-site at SCA ensures the Council can accommodate those with a wide range of needs, including people who are Covid symptomatic and need to self-isolate.
"In contrast, the YMCA student accommodation has been more problematic to identify appropriate referrals due to the level of shared facilities and mix of service users with support needs."
As well as those housing agreements, another 113 people are being housed in B&Bs across the city with some having little easy access to food delivery and health and support facilities.
The council says the lack of staffing from trained employees at these locations has also led to problems with anti-social behaviour at some sites.
People housed at these sites are also set to be moved in to the Vincent Aparthotels under the plans to allow easier contact with council officers.
The £430,000 cost of the aparthotel accommodation is significantly higher than using student accommodation but officers said the aparthotel will allow for proper distancing to take place.
The council also expects to offset the cost by eliminating the £40,000 a week it is currently spending on B&B accommodation.
The aparthotels used to house the homeless are set to be staffed 24 hours a day.
The cabinet will meet on Friday to endorse the plans.
