Bru Aimsir emergency accommodation Sinéad Healy
Homelessness in Ireland is at the point of crisis with over 8,500 homeless in the Republic of Ireland. Depaul now helps 915 people that are homeless or at risk of homelessness every single day across Northern and the Republic of Ireland.
The organisation has grown significantly in the Republic of Ireland to meet the demands of the crisis, increasing by over 180 beds in the last 14 months alone and will continue to grow into the future as the trend in people entering homelessness sees little sign of slowing. Depaul provides services for those with extremely complex issues, families in crisis and young people desperately in need of support and a safe and secure bed.
Over the course of the past year, the organisation’s emergency hostel beds have doubled in numbers to 200.
According to the last official count, there are approximately 184 people sleeping rough on the streets of the State capital. This count was taken in November of 2017 as weather became increasingly cold, wet and dangerous.
At this point, Storm Ophelia, the gale-force red weather alert storm that shook the nation had already passed. During that time Depaul opened its doors around the clock and gave shelter to those who needed it.
Experience
The people arriving to the door of Depaul’s four emergency hostels, one of which, Brú Aimsir, at 101 beds is the largest of its kind in the State, with the 89-bed Little Britain Street not far behind, dispel the previously held notion by many as to the kind of person that experiences homelessness.
While there are those in need who have alcohol and drug addiction issues, there are also people in full time employment, people in education, trained professionals, young and old and those who never before would have thought they could end up relying on the services provided by a homelessness charity.
Many of those in need of emergency hostels are quite young, with young single males still making up a significant cohort of the homeless population. Some have been homeless all of their adult life, and some of their childhood.
There are many within the adult demographic that are not far beyond adolescence and still in need of support, structure and guidance as they find their way in life, and in the case of those that need the help of Depaul, to find their way out of homelessness.
In Dublin alone, which has 3,712 homeless adults, approximately 558 are between the ages of 18 and 24. Peter’s Place is a Depaul service catering specifically to 35 young people at a time, aged 18–35, with most residents under 26. It is a Supported Temporary Accommodation, meaning they are given a stable home for at least six months.
When a young person is not given a real chance to begin their adult life on stable footing it is extremely difficult for them to aspire to a normal and fulfilling life. Many of the young people in Peter’s Place did not have the early life of a stable home that is conducive to finishing secondary school, not to mention further education, training or even holding a full time job.
A significant number of young people that experience homelessness had an unstable family background or have spent time in the care system, whether that be residential social care or foster care.
When they leave that system, they often do not have that same family structure to fall back on that most other 18-year-olds have, 18 makes you an adult in the eyes of the law, but not many 18-year-olds are ready to be entirely out on their own.
Residents at Peter’s Place are given their small, studio-style accommodation and access to communal areas, but more than that, they are given a stable home for at least six months, a door to lock behind them each night, the help and guidance of Depaul staff to provide advice and, sometimes, tough love that young people need at a crucial time.
Each resident has a key worker, helping them to navigate their next steps, whether that is support in remaining clean from drugs and alcohol, going back to education, drafting a CV, going to interviews, and, eventually, finding a suitable home when they are ready to move on. In 2017, 27 young people from Peters Place were able to move on from our service to a positive future, given back the possibilities afforded to other young people.
Similarly, young men in Northern Ireland have been in need of Depaul’s services for those with complex issues.
Reports from Northern Ireland’s Department of Health on Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services have shown that polysubstance abuse is rife and there is little access or funding for statutory services.
This is what makes Depaul services in Northern Ireland essential, for example, in Derry, Foyle Haven is an essential day centre for street drinkers. The service gives vulnerable people a place to go where they can access services and a friendly member of Depaul staff willing to help without judgement.
Out of the 8,587 homeless people in the Republic of Ireland, 3,079 of this number are children with their families, a shocking figure to many. In Dublin, Rendu, a service for women and their children, last year worked with 20 mothers, offering them a self- contained apartment, access to a communal area and support from staff to help them work through the reasons for their homelessness.
Northern Ireland, which has a very different way of recording homelessness, reports 18,628 homeless households in the latest figures for 2016-17. Approximately a third of people that came forward to the Council for the Homeless in Northern Ireland are families.
In Belfast, Depaul provides two services specifically for families – Mater Dei and Cloverhill – supplying a total of 21 apartments to homeless families, along with a child support worker, help in planning for the future, budgeting, parenting skills and the time and space for these vulnerable families and young children to address their homelessness and find a way forward without the worry of where they will put their head each night and worrying for their child starting life in an unstable environment.
Across Ireland, young people and children in homelessness are being denied a decent start in life, Depaul services like Peter’s Place and family services are essential in giving them a decent chance at creating a future.
Depaul, which has been operational in the Republic of Ireland since 2002 and Northern Ireland since 2005, is focused entirely on helping those that are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The organisation, while non-denominational, is guided by its roots in the Vincentian values shared by our founding partners St Vincent De Paul, the Daughters of Charity and the Vincentian Fathers. Depaul works on the basis that homelessness has no place in our society and with a vision in mind of a society in which everyone has a place to call home.
*Republic of Ireland figures obtained from Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government Homelessness Report December 2017.
*Northern Ireland figures obtained from CHNI Annual Homelessness Statistics 2016-17.
Sinéad Healy’s article is part of a series on homelessness appearing in The Irish Catholic during the month of January. Her piece was sponsored by Depaul.
To see more of Depaul’s advocacy work and how a donation can help them house homeless individuals, please visit their website ie.depaulcharity.org.