The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Sr Stan on why homelessness is morally wrong
By Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, Founder and Life President of Focus Ireland
IT’S CLEAR THAT THE HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS CRISIS IS GETTING WORSE. BUT WE SHOULD NOT BE WASTING TIME AND ENERGY ARGUING ABOUT COMPARISONS TO OTHER COUNTRIES.
THERE has been a lot of talk about homelessness in the last two weeks with the Taoiseach claiming the number of homeless men, women and children in Ireland is low by international standards.
The reality is sadly very much different. Last Christmas 2,400 children were homeless.
This has now shot up by more than 25 per cent to a record of 3,194 children homeless. When we include adults, there is now a shocking total of 8,492 people homeless nationwide.
It is clear that the housing and homelessness crisis is getting worse. But we should not be wasting time and energy arguing about comparisons to other countries.
We, in Focus Ireland, put our energy into helping those impacted and finding practical solutions.
We need to end homelessness in Ireland because it is morally and fundamentally wrong.
It breaks my heart to know that across Ireland in 2017 more children have been born into homelessness than ever before.
Some of them will spend their first Christmas stuck with their family, forced to live in one little room together.
This is truly awful and it makes me think back to what Christmas is all about and to the first Christmas in Bethlehem when nobody would take in Mary and Joseph; Mary had to give birth to Jesus in a stable and lay him in a manger.
I am sure this will strike a chord with everyone no matter what their beliefs are. Similarly, these children today have also been turned away and left as homeless.
They are our children too and we have a duty as a society to provide a safe home for them.
When I think of thousands of children who are homeless across Ireland I think back to my own childhood in Lispole.
I was one of five children and my childhood was a traditional one, lived among fishermen and farmers.
In my early childhood, there was story-telling and card-playing in place of radio, cinema and television. It was a life of mystery, beauty and simplicity.
The pattern of the day, the night, the year, and even life itself was lived unselfconsciously in the presence of God.
The life of the people was deeply incarnational, whether saving the hay, telling the time from the sun and the tide, catching trout and salmon, going to stations, wakes, funerals, marriages, walking under hedges dripping with fuchsia, cutting and footing the turf or bringing tea to the fields or the bog.
But it was not all joy. We also knew hardship through the Depression and the War, with its food rationing. Hard times drove many from their land. But we were a close and neighborly community.
As the local writer Peig Sayers (whom I knew) put it: ‘Ar scath a cheile a mhaireann na daoine’ or “living in the shadow of each other.”
We all helped each other, living in the shelter of each other. Which brings me on to the present, just a month out from Christmas and the work that Focus Ireland does to help families to escape the nightmare of homelessness.
More single people are also being forced into homelessness due to rising rents, evictions and a critical shortage of affordable housing.
How can we stand by while families and their children who are homeless are forced to live in one hotel room for months at a time?
There is nowhere safe for the children to play, do their homework or for the family to even cook a meal.
This is causing terrible damage for these families and also the many single people who are homeless, stuck in hostels or some even sleeping on the streets.
Focus Ireland continues to put forward realistic policy solutions to help prevent and end homelessness.
We do this work through our 70 lifeline services across Ireland, including our services in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Sligo and Dublin.
While the crisis is still deepening the situation would be much worse without the lifeline services and housing we provide.
We are there when people need us. We have already supported 600 more people this year compared to the same period in 2016.
Meanwhile we have also supported 290 families and 556 children to secure a home and escape homelessness so far this year.
While the State supports some of our work, Focus Ireland also has to raise 40 per cent (or €2 out of every €5) of what it costs to keep our services and housing running through donations & corporate support.
We work hard to support families and individuals every day, not just at Christmas, but we 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.
Focus Ireland always stresses that every Euro donated counts in the battle against homelessness as 89 cents of every euro received goes directly to our services to support people who are homeless and those at risk.
Any donation will support our work challenging homelessness and changing lives as we help over 13,500 each year who are homeless or at risk. We also provide over 800 homes nationwide.
People can please donate at www.focusireland.ie or at Ph: 1850 204 205.