Laurel Lodge extends olive branch

Laurel Lodge Accommodation Centre, an emergency centre for homeless men, was officially opened in Ennis this week. Service manager, Patrick Cahill, spoke to Carol Byrne about its role in the community.

Laurel Lodge, a 13-bed facility that caters for homeless men in Clare was first dreamt up 11 years ago.
Now fully operational, Pat Cahill of Saint Vincent de Paul, who officiates over the running of the centre, said it makes a real difference to those who have found themselves in the unfortunate position of being without a roof over their heads.
Since 1998, a local SVP sub-committee has worked tirelessly with local agencies and the Clare Homeless Forum to provide an emergency hostel service for Clare. The SVP vision for homeless services, as documented in their policies, training and quality initiatives, is to put people first. This vision ensures that the property, services and staffing meet the standards needed to provide for a safe, secure and caring service.
In 2006, a number of suitable properties, including Laurel Lodge, became available and together with the support of the Clare County Council Housing Executive, the HSE, the SVP Homes & Hostels Co-ordinator and the SVP homeless outreach worker, the vision turned a corner to become a reality.
The appointed board (St Benedict’s) chaired by Gerry Kelly and its manager Pat Cahill, opened the doors of Laurel Lodge in January of this year.
Pat explained that the Clare facility is one of 13 emergency accommodation schemes in the country run by SVP. “It’s a 13-bed facility for homeless men. each has their own bedroom, and they get three meals a day in here and they stay no longer than six months. The notion is to help them with skills or links to the community, help them to be able to live independently and to help them move out and get a flat of their own. That involves doing things like case work, if they have needs we try to address those needs and get them in with the appropriate agencies and making sure health needs are looked after because a number of fellas will have health needs.”
Pat explained that most people who have accommodation problems go to the county council’s homeless persons unit, where they are assessed and those in need of emergency accommodation are referred to Laurel Lodge.
“We will take them in if there is an emergency and if they turn up on the door, we take them in and do our best to look after them but the vast majority come through the homeless unit. An emergency situation would basically mean if they have no home to go to,” Pat said.
He added that through the council’s involvement, it ensures that those in real need of the service have access to it.
Pat’s role in the running of the facility is to support the staff and try to help the residents by meeting their needs. Additional tasks include the general management of the place like ensuring that the kitchen is in running order, that the building is safe and secure and that the residents are linking in with various agencies. He also reports to the board, the county council and the HSE on progress being made.
While Laurel Lodge caters for men only, Pat believes that Clare Haven cater for the needs of women in similar circumstances. He said figures support that men are predominately in need of such a facility in the Clare area, but added that if SVP became aware of a need in the case of homeless women, then it would be something they would look at.
A lot of the work that takes place in Laurel Lodge has to do with providing help and services to the residents in terms of setting them up with accommodation and work.
“We work with them so closely that we are on top of everything. It’s quite easy because it’s a small group; there are only 13 lads. So we would meet with them on a very regular basis, once a week or fortnight and we’d say for instance, ‘so today we’re going to look at houses’ and we would outline what we have done. We link together so often with them that we know what courses they might be going for or what jobs they are going for. We also help do CVs up for them,” Pat explained.
The maximum stay at Laurel Lodge is fixed at six months as it is a short-stay emergency accommodation facility and since it opened its doors back in January, SVP has been able to independently house 96 people. Pat revealed that no one to date has hit the six months mark and while they have a resident there for six months that person has now been set up and is due to be housed this week. 
“We are full but the turnover is probably two weeks. So we have met our targets; we have to and that comes in with the reporting I have to do. If we’re not meeting that then we are not doing what we’re supposed to do,” Pat added.
Asked what typically leads someone to need emergency accommodation, Pat stated that family breakdown accounts for the majority of cases.
“Family breakdown can mean any number of issues but we would class that very high. We’ve quite a young clientele in this place compared to the other hostels I’m aware of. Normally you get a mix across the ages. We have a lot of young fellas in their twenties which is a newer development, able bodied lads; lads in a desperate state, some who are using drugs and it’s very difficult. So with the likes of those, we just try to refer them to detox services,” Pat said.
Since the opening of the facility, Pat said the first few months were rocky but, thankfully, things have stabilised more recently and things are running smoothly.
“The first couple of months were turbulent because we were finding our feet and you’ve 13 lads thrown in here. I always think of it as being a bit like Big Brother, tension builds and they start to row with each other, inevitably. The first few months we had some teething problems, we’d one or two issues but things have been very quite since. In terms of the response from those that avail of the facilities – it’s mixed.
“We have some people that are so grateful; they know we’re doing our best for them but then we have some people that are not so grateful. The way this works is that people need to work with us. If we’re trying to help them and move them along, they need to do something for themselves. So if they’re not linking in with services then it’s very difficult to help them but the majority of people work with us.
We’re not looking for gratitude. The plan of the board, management and staff is to support each individual who engages with our services, to provide safe and secure accommodation, to ensure the SVP ethos of care and outreach is always available and to work in harmony with other Clare statutory and non-statutory care services,” he concluded.
In addition to Laurel Lodge, Pat is also over a new social housing scheme in the Westbourne Estate on Watery Road. This scheme comprises 12 houses and is run completely separate to Laurel Lodge. The social housing aspect is permanent accommodation and provides those in need with a home for the rest of their lives.
Pat has been working towards helping those on the housing list who may never get off the list such as single men, who he believes often fall to the bottom of such lists. In particular, they look at those who may have part custody of children and who may need the stability of a home to bring them to.