Homeless figures on the rise

THERE has been an increase in the number of adults accessing emergency accommodation in Clare in the past month.

Department of Housing figures for the period September 21-27 show there were 67 adults in the county in emergency accommodation, up from 60 the previous month. The homelessness report also indicates a total of 67 dependents in emergency accommodation across the Clare-Limerick area.

Chief Executive of Mid West Simon Jackie Bonfield said there are reasons to believe that homelessness will be an increasing problem in the coming months. “If there is one person homeless it is one person too many and we are expecting it to get worse because a lot of people will be in difficulty because of having lost their jobs and because of Covid.

“There has been a stay on evictions but that doesn’t protect everybody. If somebody is part of a household and the family unit breaks down, it doesn’t protect the person who has to leave the family home.”

Ms Bonfield said Simon was expecting to see a surge in homeless numbers over the next six to 12 months because of what has happened in the economy. “We also need to take into consideration that because of Covid people have found themselves in very difficult situations, confined to a space that could have put strain on mental health, a strain on relationships,” she said.

It is much more desirable, she says, to prevent people becoming homeless rather than trying to take them out of it. “If we can prevent homelessness that’s the best solution. It could be signposting people to mediation or to something like Threshold where they can get support. Maybe sometimes family support can be brought in.

“If there’s a situation where people do have to leave a home they’re currently in, if they can do it in a managed way it’s best.”

In Simon’s submission to the Government before the budget, said Ms Bonfield, one of the big asks was that money was put into prevention services. Once someone becomes homeless, she pointed out, it’s very difficult to move beyond it. “There’s a huge amount of trauma for that person, not feeling safe, not feeling there is someplace to call their own,” she said.

“We are a nation of people who want to own their own home. Everybody wants to walk into their own home, close their door and say thank God.

“People who can’t do that, it’s a huge trauma for them and when there are families involved it’s compounded, children can be stigmatised because they don’t have a family home anymore.

“We work with people who still have jobs, they get up in the morning in some form of emergency accommodation and going to work. It’s not the conversation at the tea break, that they’re living in emergency accommodation, but it is happening.”

The emergence of Covid-19 has posed particular problems for people dealing with addictions, as well as unemployment. “There has been no supports around addiction, because there were no meetings. It all broke down and we’re spending quite a lot of time at the moment trying to engage with people to try and get them to re-engage with the services and maybe start again,” she said.

Owen Ryan