Community village for homeless people in Manchester secures £3.5m in funding

A purpose-built community village for homeless people in Manchester has just received a massive £3.5m donation.

The Manchester-based charity Embassy first dreamt up the idea of the Embassy Village in 2021, envisioning a pioneering new safe and secure community for the city’s homeless and vulnerable men.

Embassy Village will provide forty purpose-built homes in a housing-led community, which will be built within a derelict site below the railway arches between the Bridgewater Canal and River Irwell in the city centre.

Plans also include a village hall, lots of green space, mini allotments to grow vegetables and a multi-use sports area.

Embassy Village

Embassy Village will operate as a housing provider rather than a shelter, and all potential residents will be interviewed and triaged. Only those who are ready and, crucially, keen to work will be offered accommodation.

While Embassy has been working with regeneration business and landowner Peel L&P, Capital&Centric to develop the village, it has now been gifted a huge £3.5m donation by The Moulding Foundation, an organisation that aims to tackle social inequalities that exist in the North of England.

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The astonishing donation will ultimately pay for the construction of the Embassy Village

Jodie Moulding, founder and trustee chair of the Moulding Foundation, said: “We are hugely proud to be supporting Embassy Village with this incredible project, helping to reduce homelessness in Greater Manchester.

Embassy Village

“The village will be transformational – in addition to safe housing, it will give residents the life skills, community support and access to the resources needed to lead thriving and healthy lives.”

Sid Williams from Embassy added: “To receive this extremely generous donation from The Moulding Foundation is just incredible and puts us in a position to get the village built sooner than we had expected.

“The latest government figures show that Manchester has the second highest number of people sleeping rough in England. This project is critical in helping us transform the way homelessness is tackled in our city, providing a long term and sustainable solution.”

The donation from the Moulding Foundation will fund the construction of the project, which will start later this year and is expected to complete in 2023.