It breaks my heart to think that this Christmas children will be born into homelessness, writes Sr Stan
Christmas is a special time in the religious year as it marks the birth of Jesus. It is a time to celebrate this and a time to reflect. It is also a time we all think of our home, family and friends.
However, as most of us look forward to this time of year many people do not. It can be a difficult time for many – none more so than the nearly 10,000 people who are homeless.
The harsh reality is that one family becomes homeless every eight hours in Ireland. Some individuals also lose their homes every day.
I have never seen it so bad. These people live under terrible stress and it’s the children who suffer the most. It is shocking to think that there are nearly 4,000 children homeless.
It breaks my heart to know that some of these children have been born into homelessness. Some of them will spend their first Christmas with their family forced to live in one little room together. They are our children too and we have a duty as a society to provide a safe home for them.
We have a duty to protect the childhoods of these children and to make sure they do not suffer from being homeless for long periods of time. Focus Ireland’s Family Team works hard to support families in this situation in partnership with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, and the support includes specific childcare workers. Each family has a case manager who assesses their needs, provides support and works towards helping them to secure a home.
In recent months the Focus Ireland coffee shop on Eustace Street in Dublin city took the step of extending its opening hours until 9pm so that families can have somewhere to be and somewhere for their children to play, as they face the stressful scramble of finding a hotel room for the night.
While the crisis is still deepening – with a record total of nearly 10,000 people now homeless – the situation would be much worse without the lifeline services and over 1,100 homes provided by Focus Ireland.
It is heartening to hear that we have supported well over 350 families to secure a home and escape homelessness so far this year.
Budget
We rely heavily on donations from the public to ensure we are able to carry out the full extent of this life changing work. While Focus Ireland does receive State funding we have to raise 50% of our budget to ensure our frontline staff are always able to be there when people need help.
Focus Ireland has been running an urgent Christmas appeal with a hard-hitting campaign that highlights nearly 4,000 children are homeless nationwide.
We really do depend on donations now more than ever to raise funds so our services can cope with the constantly rising demand. I am asking people to please give what they can afford to support our urgent Christmas appeal. Any donation will help us to directly support these families and also help fund our work to prevent other families and individuals from becoming homeless in the first place.
One family who are homeless and living in hotel emergency accommodation feature in our Christmas appeal. The mother Fiona wrote in a letter about how the family are struggling but Focus Ireland’s help has made a big difference. She said: “we have our case manager from Focus Ireland and I don’t think we could have coped with it all without her and Focus Ireland. They help us a lot.”
She added: “sometimes I lie awake at night and I can’t cope. I can’t believe we are still in this situation. But I know I can talk to our case manager at any time for a shoulder to cry on. My children love all the Focus Ireland staff. They almost feel like family now.”
To me this shows the real value of our work. Our staff are there to help people in their darkest hour. To keep them going. To provide vital support and also hope. To remind them this will pass. They will find a way home.
I would stress that every euro donated counts in the battle against homelessness as 89c of every €1 received by Focus Ireland goes directly on services to support people who are homeless and those at risk.
It is vital our society does not lose sight of the fact that homelessness can be prevented – and ended – if the right decisions are taken. We need more homes to end this crisis, not more hotel rooms.
The Government appears to be just accepting this as a natural phenomenon that it can do nothing about. But in fact, it can take several meaningful steps to make people more secure in their homes. Much more can – and must be – done if we are to end this terrible human crisis and protect the childhoods of nearly 4,000 children homeless.
We also need a massive rise in the numbers of social homes being built. The Government must also implement a specific family homelessness strategy that includes a commitment that no family will be left without shelter and a cast-iron deadline that no family will be homeless for more than six months. This needs to be done now.
We cannot wait any longer.
Sr Stanislaus Kennedy is Life President and Founder of Focus Ireland. Donate at www.focusireland.ie or phone 1850 204 205.