Catholic charities paved way to help chronic homeless – Housing First director

Catholic-founded charities helped pave the way to assist the most vulnerable who were being rejected by local authorities for housing, according to the National Director for the ‘Housing First’ initiative in Ireland.

Rob Lowth told The Irish Catholic that Fr Peter McVerry, who founded the Peter McVerry Trust, saw from a “very early time” the need for the Housing First programme, which prioritises providing immediate housing to individuals experiencing homelessness, regardless of their background or circumstances, with a focus on those facing severe challenges.

Mr Lowth, who was the former Head of Homeless Services for Limerick City and County Council, said: “I think Peter saw himself in Housing First from an early time, the benefit of it, and the understanding that it was the right direction to go in. Because he was seeing a lot of these younger people from a very early age and he has seen, and I guess I would have seen it working in a local authority, the multi-generational side of homelessness.

“When I was in a local authority, I was inducted into the idea that somebody has to be sober before they get a house, they have to have a history of housing before they are given a house. And that was the holy grail of local authority housing at the time. The people we’re dealing with now on Housing First never stood a chance,” he said.

There were almost 1,000 Housing First tenancies created by the end of December, focusing on those who may have behavioural, addiction, mental health issues and more. The Government aim to expand that by 2,000 by 2026.

The Peter McVerry Trust and Focus Ireland, founded by Sr Stan, have been two of the biggest providers of tenancies under the Government’s Housing First initiative. Last year the Peter McVerry Trust reported working with 590 active tenancies across 14 local authority areas, with the success rate of these tenancies at 89%.

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