Whitefriars Housing, part of WM Housing Group, is to build a new support and residential centre for homeless people in Coventry. The news follows the announcement in October by the government's Homes and Communities Agency to provide £2.1m for the project.

The new state-of-the-art 60 room centre, on a site still to be decided, will be developed in partnership with Coventry City Council. Work is scheduled to start on site in January 2013 and be completed by December 2013.  

Enhanced support services will be provided by Whitefriars and other organisations to promote training, life and vocational skills, to prepare residents for employment and swifter move-on to permanent accommodation. Whitefriars will also be working with existing residents to help plan and design the new, more secure upgraded accommodation and services.  

Whitefriars chair Mick Rawson said: "I'm delighted with this news, this is an exciting development. In a time of economic hardship we are able to invest £6m to provide good accommodation to people without a home, many of whom regularly face sleeping on the streets.  

"The new centre will have a range of services to help people turn their lives around and we will be able to help people get off the streets and into permanent accommodation. This project forms part of Whitefriars Housing Association's housing strategy to improve accommodation and services for Coventry."

Coventry City Council Cabinet Member Tony Skipper said: "Coventry City Council fully supports this development and we congratulate WM Housing and Whitefriars for bringing this scheme forward. This scheme is a recognition of how we can work together to provide good homelessness services in Coventry."

"This is excellent and welcome news. Supporting homeless people is a high priority for Coventry City Council and this project will make a valuable contribution. Congratulations are due to Whitefriars and thanks are due to the HCA for the £2.1m funding.  I look forward to the opening in late 2013."

Mike Fowler chief executive of Coventry Cyrenians said "We've all been 100% behind Whitefriars with this scheme and the excellent partnerships that exist between statutory and non-profit making agencies can only benefit from this new venture."