Construction crews broke ground Monday on Foundry Street in Oldham, where 15 one-bedroom apartments will rise from a long-vacant brownfield site to give young adults leaving care a first safe home of their own.

The council transferred the land to housing association Jigsaw Homes in January, unlocking a slice of the Government’s £200 million Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme - a national pot earmarked to deliver 2,400 homes for vulnerable people. When the block is completed next year, each 18- to 25-year-old tenant will step into a self-contained flat complete with bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, plus access to a communal garden, on-site support staff, parking and secure cycle storage. Advisors will be on hand daily to help with budgeting, job hunting, mental-health issues and building community links, turning the scheme into what organisers call “a stepping stone to full independence”.

The timing is critical: a recent charity survey found care leavers aged 18-20 are fifteen times more likely than their peers to be sleeping rough or sofa-surfing, and last year roughly 4,000 were recorded homeless across the UK - a 50 per cent jump in five years.

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