NOBODY SHOULD DIE ON THE STREET ON THEIR OWN

TACKLING THE HOMELESSNESS PROBLEM IN DUNDALK

A wet hostel similar to The Gatehouse which was opened in 2004 following the death of rough sleepers in Dundalk is again needed to prevent further deaths on the streets, according to Michelle Ryan, director of Dundalk Simon Community.

Lack of funding led to the closure of The Gatehouse and there are now ten beds for rough sleepers in Dundalk Simon Community’s premises at Barrack Street, including three funded by Louth County Council.

These, Ms Ryan explains, are for ‘ those individuals who don’t want to engage in hostel living but need a bed for a night.’

‘We need to have a wet hostel reopened in town but unfortunately it is very expensive to run. While we will take in people who are under the influence, we cannot allow people bring drinks into the Simon House for health and safety issue, so a wet hostel is needed for those people who cannot obey that rule.’

‘ There is a cohort of people in the town who are alcoholics and who need the services and shelter that a wet hostel provides,’ she continues. ‘ The town is facing a very similar situation now as it faced ten years ago when the wet hostel was opened following the deaths of two people on the streets. Nobody should die on the street on their own.’

‘We are no longer simply dealing with elderly people with a drink problem - we need to be able to engage with people, hold them and see what supports they need.’

Dundalk Simon Community, like other homeless charities around the country, has seen an increase in the numbers of those seeking its services and also a change in the profile of service users.

At the moment, Dundalk Simon is providing 730 bed nights a month. ‘We’re full to capacity and have been full since January, night after night. We can’t cope with the demand.’

‘ There has been a large increase in the number of people who are first time presenters,’ she says. ‘Of the 129 people who availed of hostel accom- modation last ear, 96 were first time presenters and that is very high, at least a twenty per cent increase on the previous year.’

As a hostel which primarily caters for single people who have addiction problems, the hostel would traditionally have dealt with older men.

‘ The age profile has changed and we are getting more young men,’ says Ms Ryan.

And while the number of men using the services provided by Simon still out number women, the gender profile is also changing with an increase in women looking for help.

‘ The gender profile and the age profile is changing,’ she says. ‘It’s now young people who have major issues with drugs, mental health, physical health and social isolation,’ she says

‘We are not just dealing with people who have drink problems but are mixing alcohol with benzos, illegal methadone and cannabis. While we don’t have people injecting heroin on the streets, we do have a major drug problem.’

There is, she continues, a big problem regarding mental health issues and the difficulty which homeless people have in accessing mental health services. ‘ These are major issues which the wider community needs to look at and see how it is going to address it.’

‘ The homeless crisis got worse when the economic crisis worsened but although the economy is getting better, all boats are not rising at the same time, and individuals who lost their jobs, who were part of a vulnerable group anyway, are still struggling.’

‘We all know within our families, close neighbours and communities, someone who is homeless and more often than not, they are the ones who surprise us.’

They mightn’t, she continues, be sleeping on the streets but will be sleeping on their friends’ sofas or in cars. ‘It’s very, very sad,’ she states. ‘ For some people who come to Simon, it’s a revolving door, and then there are people who wouldn’t have expected to end up with us in a hostel.’