A “sharp rise” in the number of people sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin must be acted on urgently, homelessness charities have warned.
There was a minimum of 87 people sleeping rough in the most recent official count, though the true figure could be 101. The latest figures were published yesterday by the Dublin Regional Homelessness Consultative Forum.
The numbers compare with 73 people in the April count, 87 last winter, 70 in the winter of 2010 and 60 in 2009. The true figure, however, is likely to be higher as one of the key “counters” was not open. This winter’s count was conducted on the night of November 13th.
Usually a “self-reporting” count is included of people using the Merchants Quay early breakfast service on the morning following the count so people who may have been missed can be included. This, however, was closed on the morning of November 14th.
Previous counts
“For the previous six counts over the last four years an average of 14 persons were added to the final figure,” said a statement from the consultative forum. This would bring this latest count figure to 101.
The count found 68 males, 10 females and nine unknown sleeping out on the night. Among them were 44 Irish nationals, nine non-nationals and 34 unknown.
Noting the decline in the number of non-nationals sleeping rough, spokesman for Focus Ireland said there was a “changing dynamic” and there appeared to be more Irish people sleeping rough. He particularly pointed to people being discharged from prison without adequate planning, people leaving care and people with mental health issues in need of supported housing.
The count is carried out twice a year to confirm minimum numbers and to assist the homelessness forum in “measuring effectiveness of the regional strategy”.
Focus Ireland’s chief executive, Joyce Loughnan, said the “sharp” increase “must act as an urgent warning that a growing number of people are at risk due to the recession”.
Sam McGuinness, chief executive of the Dublin Simon Community, said increased emergency accommodation provided as part of Dublin City Council’s cold weather initiative was “still insufficient”.
'If it wasn't for these guys I'd be frozen, I'd be dead'
Those bedding down for the night on Dublin pavements tell stories that could have turned out so differently.
Suzanne Hayes (41) is sitting opposite the Luas track on St Stephen’s Green, a blue sleeping bag around her lap and covering a plastic bottle filled with vodka.
A Traveller, she is in good form as she tells how she left her family because she didn’t get on with them when she was a teenager.
“I got into drugs and drink and I’ve been homeless, on and off, for 24 years,” she says.
She has three children in care.
“My baby is seven. I haven’t seen in him in five years.”
Someone who was violent to her has just been sentenced to two years in prison. “I’m very happy.”
Asked if he treated her badly, she laughs. “That’s putting it mildly. Thank God I can sleep in peace now.
“I want to get a flat, get off these streets. I have friends. Young fellas look out for me. One of them just gave me this,” she says, producing the vodka, “so it’s a happy night.”
‘Keeps me safe’
Mick (38), a Dublin man, is getting ready for bed on the ground outside a Londis shop at the top of Grafton Street. Pointing to a closed-circuit television camera on a high pole further up, he explains: “That keeps me safe.”
“It can be very dangerous but I don’t want to sleep in hostels. They can be worse. You can have things stolen and be attacked.”
He has been sleeping rough, he says, for 20 years – since he left home. “If it wasn’t for these guys I’d be frozen, I’d be dead,” he says, gesturing to the outreach workers, Danny Quirke and Emer Humphreys.
They work for the joint Focus Ireland-Dublin Simon street project and have just given him a backpack with a sleeping bag and socks.
Mitching school
Asked if he has family, he says: “I don’t really get on with them. I think that is most of my problem. My father is a man who is hard to get on with.”
Later, we meet David, lying on cardboard, with boxes at his head and feet as he lies outside the House of Ireland shop on Nassau Street. He is almost incoherent with alcohol but says he is 40 and has been homeless for “25 or 26 years”.
He says he is originally from Ballymun and had been living with his father. “He wasn’t happy with me because I kept mitching from school. He’d hit me and I ran to live with my ma. But she didn’t want me there.”
Asked why he had been mitching, he closes his eyes for about half a minute before opening them and sighing. “I was being bullied,” he says.
