Heather Mills has opened a new women’s hostel in England

The facility, which has been named White Heather House in honour of the star, has 20 en-suite bedrooms for single homeless women, and will help provide relief for those who finds themselves living on the streets.

Heather previously went through a period of homelessness herself, and so was happy to take the time to open the facility, as well as unveil a plaque which will be situated within the grounds of the hostel to commemorate the opening.

She said: “Having experienced homelessness as a teenager I fully appreciate and support the value and necessity of Harp’s essential work.”

Harp is a homeless charity that operates within Southend, who aim to provide essential services and long term solutions to support local people taking steps to overcome homelessness.

According to the city’s local newspaper, the Echo, around 25 percent of the people that Harp support are women, and as they can often have very different needs to their male counterparts, the hostel is designed to specifically help those women get the support they need.

Gill Garwood, chief ex ecutive at Harp, said: “The introduction of this single gender environment will allow us to provide a less intimidating entry point to homelessness services for women and all in a supportive and understanding environment.

“It will improve and broaden the support available to empower women to make positive change and provide peer support for women that are also feeling lonely and isolated as a result of their circumstances.

“Although it is still early days, the outcomes are already looking very promising, with 33 per cent more women achieving a positive outcome compared to women in our mixed gender hostels in the first six months of the hostel opening.”