Local leaders visit Hillcrest Futures homeless service in Edinburgh
Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, and City of Edinburgh Council’s Councillor Finlay McFarlane visited Hillcrest Futures’ accommodation service for people experiencing homelessness at St John’s Hill in Edinburgh last week.
Angus and Finlay were on a fact-finding mission to learn more about how the service works with individuals experiencing substance use issues, and how much work is done within the remit of harm reduction, both within the service and in the local community.
Other areas of interest included how the service embeds itself into the local neighbourhood, and how this can be a source of both mutual support and, occasionally, disharmony. It is a very busy area in the city centre, particularly during festival time. There is a large transient student population nearby, and residents have a lot of coming and going to deal with.
Service Manager Wendy Campbell, and Operations Manager Louise Doctor gave updates on local trends and environmental factors, which have been challenging for the service to manage at times but, through the commitment and expertise of the staff team, have been largely overcome.
Angus and Finlay are pictured with Service Manager Wendy, Support Workers Greg, Lorraine, Kimberley and Lorraine, and our new Night Concierge Imoh