New homeless shelter to take 100 off the streets

Dublin People 28 Nov 2015
The new centre will take 100 homeless people off the streets. FILE PHOTO

DUBLIN City Council has officially opened a new homeless accommodation service that will cater for 100 people.

The Brú Aimsir facility will form one of the core services of the Cold Weather Initiative (CWI) in Dublin 8.

It is provided by Dublin City Council and the State-funded organisation Crosscare, which has operational responsibility for the day-to-day management of the service.

The CWI is in place to provide a humanitarian response to those who are at risk of rough sleeping, with the aim of preventing fatalities and serious harm from cold weather temperatures.

The service will provide accommodation for 80 single men and separately for 20 single women.

All referrals and bookings into the service are managed by Dublin City Council’s Homeless Central Placement Service.

People accessing the service will be provided with a light meal in the evening and breakfast in the morning. Showers and laundry facilities will also be available.

A range of health supports will be available on-site, including nursing, GP cover, and holistic therapies.

Voluntary groups are participating in the delivery of social and recreational activities including art, photography and music for example.

 

The 100 single beds in Brú Aimsir are in addition to the further delivery of 75 ring-fenced beds across all homeless services in the Dublin region, including 20 single beds (extreme cold weather service), 37 family units and 18 couple units while 80 additional rooms for families are currently being confirmed.

Other increased support levels for the Cold Weather Initiative will see the Housing First Intake Team operating from 7am to 1am every day with extended services as daily needs arise. There will be transport available to the team to assist in supporting vulnerable people who are sleeping rough to access accommodation.

The opening of the new centre takes place as a new action group, set up to tackle homelessness was preparing for a demonstration at the GPO.

Leading housing charities, trade unions, community action groups, political parties and minority representatives have joined forces to form a ‘National Homeless and Housing Coalition’.

The group is calling on the Government to take immediate action to end the current homeless and housing emergency situation.

The coalition also staged a housing rally at the GPO to mark the death of Jonathan Corrie this time last year.

The tragic death of the homeless man on Molesworth Street, just yards from Leinster House, focused the national conversation on the issue of homelessness.

Meanwhile, the rough sleeper reporting process can be employed by anyone encountering a person who is rough sleeping, who can then alert the Housing First Intake Team as to the exact whereabouts of the rough sleeper so that the team can engage with them at that location.

The HSE Cold Weather Initiative supports the primary health care needs of people availing of the cold weather facility through SafetyNet who will provide a range of services including GP consultations, vaccination and health screening.

A strong emphasis is also being put on improving progression options for persons by converting a sizeable number of existing one night only beds into supported accommodation options as well as increasing capacity for the CWI target group including Cedar House, Crosscare and Grantham Mews, and the Peter McVerry Trust.

The Capuchin Centre has extended its early opening hours to 7am.

Merchants Quay Ireland breakfast service is available from 7.30am and the Night Café is open all night.

The Focus Ireland Coffee Shop and Mendicity Day Services are all operating day services during the cold weather period.

A Guide to Good Practice for Street Outreach Teams has been developed in partnership with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, Dublin City Council Homeless Services Central Placement Service (CPS) and the Housing First (HF) Team (Focus Ireland and Peter Mc Verry Trust) and a range of volunteer groups who are currently providing street engagement.

Last week the Peter McVerry Trust premiered a documentary entitled ‘Moving on’ which tells the story behind the nature of Irish homelessness.

The film tells the stories of Emma (19) and Patrick (22) and charts their individual moves from a Peter McVerry Trust hostel to a redeveloped apartment building in Dublin 8. 

 

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