Moray Council likely to sell Keith ex-children’s home and homeless hostel after refugee housing offer turned down by Home Office
A DISUSED homeless hostel in Keith, previously a children’s home, will likely be sold after a council offer to house refugees there was turned down.
Moray Council confirmed they had offered the six-bedsit property at 30 Quarryhill, which has shared bathroom and cooking facilities, to the Home Office for use in refugee programmes.
However, the UK government agency did not assign any residents to the property.
Councillor Theresa Coull (Keith and Cullen, SNP) said the building would now need expensive improvements to stay in council hands, and would likely be sold.
“The Old Children’s Home was initially looked at as an option for refugees, however, it did not get matched with a suitable household via the Home Office,” Cllr Coull said.
“It will now be referred to the Asset Management Working Group within the council and it is with a recommendation to declare it surplus and the expectation is that it will be put on the market due to the extent of the work required to refurbish it.”
A final decision on the building, known as Quarryhill, will be made in the “coming weeks”, according to a Moray Council spokesperson.
Opened as a children’s home in early 1967, by the organisation which later became children’s charity Aberlour, it was one of several “family group” style children’s homes in Moray.
Quarryhill closed in 1983 due to a lack of residents and, after falling into Moray Council’s hands, became a temporary hostel for single homeless people.
A 2019 document shows that Quarryhill was then the oldest hostel used by the Council.
However, it adds, the home “fails the Council’s own standards for the provision of temporary accommodation due to the shared facilities”.
As a result, it is understood that the building has been vacant for a number of years.
A Moray Council spokesperson said: “The property in question had been offered to the Home Office in support of refugee programmes but was not required.
“It requires extensive refurbishment and therefore a decision on its future will be made by the Asset Management Working Group in the coming weeks.”
