Still here for the foreseeable

Update from Andrew (January 2010)

So many conversations that I have start "Have you heard any more...?" It's been a well-known fact that our landlords, the City Council, have wanted to take the building back at some point and we've learned to live with that uncertainty for about six years. In case you're wondering... we know nothing more. And now the press have picked up the fact that a recent review of day centres is recommending that we should be "decommissioned" and the annual grant of just under £10,000 withdrawn. All in the name of "strategy".

Actually, councillors have been very supportive and questioned the validity of the report, which was written by someone unfamiliar with the Oxford scene. In any case, it won't take effect before 2011, when (hopefully) the new Old Fire Station project opens. Meanwhile, one local project looks likely to close, and another has had to make cuts.

So now when I hear those words "Have you heard any more...?" it's as likely to be about our potential loss of funding as about the building. Homeless guests have already started asking "When do you close?" - but that's not on the cards, thanks to all your wonderul support. But will we be any the wiser when 2011 dawns?

For more background to the Gatehouse and the reasons we must keep it going, see What Next?