Saint Lazarus Centre for Adults with Disabilities (Kentro AmeA “Agios Lazaros”) – OID: E10045250 is a licensed, community-based non-profit organisation in Larnaca, Cyprus, supporting adults with intellectual disabilities for over 30 years.
The Centre provides an integrated continuum of support through a Day Centre, a Vocational Rehabilitation Programme and a 24/7 Supported Living service. This creates a real-life community ecosystem where adults with intellectual disabilities can develop daily living skills, self-care, social participation, vocational abilities and greater autonomy.
The Centre operates as a non-clinical, community-based Living Lab and implementation environment. It can support co-creation, piloting, accessibility validation, social impact assessment and real-world testing of inclusive, digital, social and built-environment innovations with adults with diverse and often complex support needs, families and professionals.
A key strategic priority of the Centre is the development of a pathway from supported living to autonomous city living. The Centre already operates a Supported Living home, where residents receive structured support and training in self-care, self-service, daily routines, social participation and autonomy skills. Some residents are now ready to move to a next stage of more autonomous living, provided that the environment remains safe, accessible and appropriately supported.
In this context, the Centre owns an old existing building in the heart of Larnaca which could be transformed into CityHome 5: a small autonomous living home for five adults with intellectual disabilities. The building requires full renovation and adaptation, but its city-centre location is a major strength, as it is close to theatres, parks, public event spaces, sports facilities, concerts, cultural venues and everyday services.
CityHome 5 is not a conventional renovation idea. It is a real-life demonstrator for adaptive reuse, inclusive housing, accessibility, energy-efficient renovation, autonomous living, vocational participation and community inclusion. It shows how an old urban building can become a small, non-institutional home where adults with intellectual disabilities can live with greater independence and participate more actively in city life.
The Centre is particularly interested in joining NEB, Horizon Europe and other European consortia as an end-user organisation, pilot site, future service operator, co-creation partner and social impact demonstrator. It can contribute:
– a real community-based disability service environment;
– a Centre-owned urban pilot building;
– access to adults with intellectual disabilities, families and staff for ethical co-creation;
– experience in Day Centre, Vocational Rehabilitation and Supported Living;
– practical knowledge of autonomy skills development and safeguarding;
– capacity for real-life implementation, user feedback and social impact evaluation;
– a widening-country perspective from Cyprus.
With over 15 years of experience in European programmes, including Entre4All, and as an Erasmus+ accredited organisation in Adult Education, the Centre has strong implementation capacity and a clear vision: to move from service provision alone towards quality, autonomy, skills, inclusive housing, digital evidence and meaningful community participation for adults with intellectual disabilities.