A BRADFORD charity helping homeless men has received more than £250,000 of Government funding to modernise its 40-year-old hostel in the city.

Ean Monk, head of service at Bradford Cyrenians said the money was a great start to the New Year.

Bradford's Centrepoint charity has also got a £614,646 share of funds from the Department of Health's Homelessness Changes programme which was announced this week.

The Cyrenians' award followed a successful bid by Bradford Council which owns the large two terraced houses in Manningham Lane that has 12 beds.

The money will be used to create a whole new hostel, said Mr Monk, who added: "Without the help of Bradford Council and the Department of Health none of this would have been possible. We are very grateful."

The funding will pay for the building to be redecorated, to get a new heating system, new security doors, remodel the bedrooms to make 15 spaces all soundproofed.

A new multi-use room will also be developed for group sessions and there will be a new key worker room where staff and clients can sit in private to discuss issues. Six new wetrooms will also replace the old fashioned bathrooms.

Mr Monk said: "The wetrooms are particularly important given out of our client group a lot of them will have been sleeping rough and really need a good quality space to get themselves thoroughly clean so they can feel good about themselves."

He said soundproofing the bedrooms, some of which were partitioned about 15 years ago, would also make a big difference to men staying at the hostel, especially to those who have mental health problems.

"For them it's important they have their own peace and quiet. It's not good if they have mental health problems to be able to hear what's going on in the room next to them.

"With this money we are creating a whole new modern hostel. We were expecting to hear if we'd got it back in November but we only heard yesterday which was a wonderful surprise. It's a great start to our New Year," said Mr Monk.

Centrepoint in Bradford supports more than 320 homeless young people across the district every single day, also receiving an average of between eight and ten new referrals each week.

Its head of development, Rhiannon Meredith, said its money would fund 18 bed spaces.

"Centrepoint has delivered a range of services across Bradford since 2013. This support includes learning, health, mentoring and employment so we are delighted that we have been awarded this grant to help more vulnerable young people," she said.