I would just like to take a minute to talk about the various recent developments in the homeless situation in Dublin, if you know someone in a position where this information could be useful, please don’t hesitate to send this information on.
In recent weeks it has come to my attention that The Night Bus that was serving as a transport for homeless people to and from pick up points across the city to emergency shelters (hostels & B&Bs) was cancelled. The two reasons this was cancelled were firstly, the same service users where using the service night in and night out, and therefore it was pointed out that these people weren’t going forward with their homeless situation. Secondly, service users were moved from hostel to hostel and therefore were not in a position to settle into any accommodation they received, it was believed that this situation was detrimental to the service users’ already fragile condition.
The homeless phone line is still operating from 10 am each morning, but because most emergence shelters, and B&B’s with some hostels don’t have 24 hour access, a lot of these stop taking bookings and guests by 1 am sharp, and unless you ring the homeless line quite early in the morning, day or late evening you may not be catered for and you could be forced to sleep in some door way. This puts a lot of potential service users at threat of freezing especially, the way our weather has gone and going to be for the next while. So those at risk be wise and stay alive phone 1800-704-704.
It has also come to my attention that a small amount of people were using the hostels as a place to register so they could get their full payment of the dole while they could be living with their girlfriend. The HSE and the Social Welfare are aware of this problem and now you have to stay for your full duration of your homeless stage, so if you think you can go into a hostel part time it doesn’t work like that, and although it may work for you, you are actually taking up a bed that could be given out to a genuine case. I am not saying you are not a genuine case we all need a place to live, but you will no longer be allowed to take up a bed at any hostel, shelter, or B&B part time. Capel street is still operating if you need to register if you find yourself homeless, also airing soon, prime time will be doing a special documentary on been homeless and using various services.
IMAGE: Generic image of a homeless man – image credit: SamPac/Flickr
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This article was originally published in:
Fountain News Digital – December 2011 (Issue 7)
We are re-publishing all articles from our past newsletter, Fountain News Digital, and you can view all completed newsletters here. There were nine issues published in total between 2010 and 2012.
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