Responding to housing needs
The HSE hosted a regional seminar in Sligo last week which brought together, a range of homeless support Services from both the Government and non- Government sector.
It was the first event of its kind in this region and the theme was, ‘Understanding the Landscape – Rethinking the Response.’
The seminar in the Glasshouse Hotel was attended by approximately 60 delegates. Its purpose was to bring a range of services together, to share how they respond to meeting the housing and support needs of people that experience homelessness.
It provided an opportunity to share information between the various groups represented, and in particular, it considered the needs of those homeless populations that also experience a range of complex mental health and addiction issues.
It provided a timely opportunity to reflect and learn, about the service landscape and to stimulate the thinking on new or cooperative ways of working. Despite the numerous challenges that were shared, the hope is, that by engaging in effective partnership working, all services can contribute to providing better outcomes for homeless populations.
According to Trish Kane, HSE CHO1 Project Manager (Housing Coordination) said hosting such an event was both welcome and timely, given the increasing challenges that all services experienced when trying to meet the needs of this population group.
Bartley Gavin of Sligo County Council outlined the challenges faced by Local Authorities in meeting housing needs of all population groups.
He welcomed the “imminent roll out of ‘Housing First’ in this region which is a partnership project that will specifically support homeless populations, and in particular for those that also experience other complex issues such as mental health and addiction.”
He noted however, that “providing the ‘physical house’ is just one piece of the puzzle, the intensive support that is required to support this homeless population to sustain and maintain their tenancy needs all service cooperation to be successful.”