care home residents with mental health problems are

facing Christmas on the streets.

The 17 residents and ten staff of Almir House, Brighton, have been told their home is closing.

They have until December 10 to find new accommodation - or face homelessness and a miserable festive season.

A source at the home, who asked not to be identified, said: "The residents are taking it very badly and so are the staff.

"But that's not surprising. We have been told we only have a month to make alternative arrangements, so it's going to be a bleak Christmas for some."

David Harbinson, the home's chef, said: "Many of the residents are old and infirm and don't know what's going on.

"They are going to get split up and some of them are really cut up about it."

The privately-run home in Sillwood Road, Brighton, cares for people with mental health

needs and learning difficulties.

It has been registered to Ivan Reback since 1976 and it is unclear what will happen to the home when it shuts.

A spokesman for the home declined to comment on why it was closing. She said: "It is just closing."

News of the closure comes less than a week after it was announced trustees of the French Convalescent Home in Kemp Town have sold the building to developers who plan to knock it down and put up sheltered apartments.

Around 40 elderly residents will be forced to look for new accommodation and a similar number of staff are facing redundancy.

Tony Andrews, chairman of the East Sussex, Brighton and Hove

Residential Care Homes Association, blamed council policies for both closures.

"The council refuses to accept the true costs of caring for the elderly. It knows it costs much more money than it is prepared to pay the private sector.

"Care facilities in Brighton and Hove are being decimated and it is the elderly and sick who will pay the price tomorrow for the mistakes being made today."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.