TWELVE people will be made homeless next week when they are evicted from their Bournemouth home by a company owned by Harry Redknapp.

Pierfront Developments has been criticised for compounding a “catalogue of misery” for the residents of the Belgravia hotel building it is planning to redevelop.

Labour parliamentary candidate Corrie Drew has called on Mr Redknapp to give them more support.

“He is someone people have looked up to for a long time,” she said. “I’m sure he doesn’t want a legacy of having made 12 people homeless.”

The building has been run as a hotel for those without a permanent place to live by octogenarians Wendy and Gerry Hunt since 1988.

It has been used to house 30 people, many of whom have been recently released from prison.

But Pierfront bought the Christchurch Road site in 2016 with the intention of redeveloping it.

And earlier this month BCP Council approved its planning application to convert the building into 14 flats.

Although the number has fallen since the planning application was first submitted, 13 people still live there.

And on Monday they will be evicted to allow the redevelopment of the site to take place.

The Hunts will also have to leave their home at the back of the hotel building.

“As fast as people were leaving I was taking people in,” Mrs Hunt said. “It’s a constant thing, there are never enough places in Bournemouth for them and now there will be even fewer.

“We are camping out, most of our stuff has gone. We’re living out of boxes and so are they [the residents] but they haven’t got anywhere to go.”

Only one of the 13 people has found a place to live after Monday’s planned eviction.

The others have criticised the council for not providing them with enough support and blamed the financial demands of the private rental market.

Clifford, who has lived at the Belgravia since being released from prison several years ago and did not wish to provide his surname, said it was impossible for people in his situation to come up with deposits or have guarantors.

“Losing this is just like ingredients that are not helping society,” he said. “People have to live somewhere and the council aren’t providing accommodation.

“If you’re not given an avenue into society how can you ever attempt to rehabilitate yourself?”

The council’s cabinet member for housing, councillor Kieron Wilson, said they had been working with residents “for some time” to find them new accommodation.

“A number have now moved and efforts continue to help those without a settled housing option,” he said.

“Over the next couple of days our officers will be in direct contact with any residents still in the hotel."

He said emergency housing would be found if needed to prevent anyone having to sleep rough.

But Corrie Drew, the prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth East, said Harry Redknapp needed to provide support.

“Bournemouth is one of the worst towns in the country in terms of the availability of housing and when you can’t put together a deposit or guarantors, which so many landlords require, it’s so much more difficult,” she said.

“I want Harry to come down and speak to the people living here.

“This could be an opportunity for him to show he’s committed to helping the homeless and those who have now lost their home.”

Mr Redknapp handed out jam roly-poly to some of the town's rough sleepers last Christmas.

Pierfront Developments did not respond to requests from the Local Democracy Reporting Service for comment.