A FORMER worker at Regina Coeli hostel has hit out at a delay in opening a new women-only facility in Belfast.
The hostel on Lake Glen Avenue closed earlier this year after its management announced in November that the building needed £500,000 of repairs and had to shut.
The building is owned by the Legion of Mary - a Catholic voluntary organisation.
Staff held an 11-week 'work-in' at the west Belfast hostel following the closure announcement.
Workers were suspended but stayed on to help women needing addiction and mental health support.
Some workers were later dismissed.
The Department for Communities and the Housing Executive had initially said that a new women-only hostel would open in May.
However, the facility has still not been set up.
Former worker Emma McCann said people from the hostel are continuing to support homeless women who are "living in crisis".
She said delays in opening the new facility are unacceptable.
"We recently saw a young woman on the street who had collapsed with a needle hanging out of her neck," she said.
"That might not have happened if the new hostel was open.
"If this was a hotel, a new golf club, or something else that brings in tourists, it would have been opened already.
"We ended our occupation of Regina Coeli House because we were given assurances that a new facility would be put in place."
People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll called on communities minister Deirdre Hargey to set a date for the opening of a new facility.
"The workers and residents of Regina Coeli House fought a heroic campaign to ensure vulnerable women would not lose out on this vital service," he said.
"Assurances about the opening of a new facility would not have been given without them.
"It’s time for the Communities Minister and the Housing Executive to fulfil their end of the bargain."
He added: "It is simply not good enough that vulnerable women are being forced to wait on these services.
"Every day that passes without the provision of this proposed facility is putting more women in danger."
A spokesman for the Department for Communities said: "The safety and well-being of vulnerable women who require emergency accommodation is a priority for the Minister who has been doing everything in her power to ensure a new women’s only facility is in place as soon as possible.
"The Housing Executive has appointed a provider to run these vital services and continues to work with them to finalise appropriate, safe and secure premises.
"The Housing Executive has also secured additional women-only emergency accommodation in Belfast City Centre."
