Special feature - Homelessness in Kildare

Every week the Leinster Leader publishes a special investigative and in-depth piece. With five reporters in the newsroom, we each have five weeks to prepare something. This was my most recent piece, and one of those rare occaions when my Simon Community experience comes into play in my day job. I must say I was very impressed with how open, interesting and forward looking George Perry of Kildare County Council was when I spoke to him on it. Although the fact that I revealed my Simon background to him may have had the effect of making him feel less like talking to a reporter and more like talking to a fellow professional - or maybe he's just a good guy:

The picture of homelessness in Kildare in the early months of 2010 are interesting.
There is quite clearly a problem, and an ongoing one at that, but equally, there exists a range of effective services to deal with it.
Kildare County Council sources have said homelessness figures have remained steady throughout the county and that the recession does not appear to have raised the numbers of those seeking assistance.
But by their own admission, their figures are not complete.
In 2007, in their publication ' A Poverty Profile of Co. Kildare', the Council revealed that a total of 206 people presented as homeless that year.
That included 78 women, 110 men and 18 people who were in nine couples. That is the last official published figures on the matter. Council official George Perry has told the Leinster Leader that the numbers haven't changed in the meantime, notwithstanding the downturn in the economy in the meantime.
But the nature of homelessness in Kildare is coloured by virtue of our proximity to Dublin.
Mr. Perry explains: “We export our problem, especially in the north of the county”, noting that there were hostel services available in Newbridge and Athy.
Even the 2007 figures carry the following caveat: “This is likely to be an underestimation of those homeless in Kildare as those who re-present to the service are not included in this overall figure.
“Also, there are likely others whom outreach workers are not aware of and who are not engaging with services.”
All that nothwithstanding, services in the county are quite good.
Mr. Perry himself is the chairman of the county's Homelessness Consultative Forum, a group which include representatives of the local authority, the HSE, Gardai and the hostels which offer accomodation to people who are homeless, such as Michael Garry House in Newbridge and Mount Offaly House in Athy.
That group makes sure that the efforts of all those involved in tackling the issue are targeted in the same general direction.
And in the coming months, a major change is set to take place in the way the various bodies approach the issue.
A new national Government Strategy for dealing with homelessness has identified the regional nature of the problem, and has decided to establish a Regional Forum approach, including Meath, Kildare and West Wicklow.
The Forum will see representatives from local authorities, the HSE, elected representatives, service providers such as the Simon Community and St. Vincent de Paul, the Probation Service, FAS, the VEC and the Regional Drugs Taskforce.
And Kildare County Council has been appointed the lead agency in that new regional forum.
It's an approach Mr. Perry approves of entirely. The best practice solution, for him, is to reintegrate people back into their own community, and to enable them to progress out of homelessness.
Exporting the problem to Dublin, he agrees, helps nobody.
The modern approach to dealing with homelessness starts with a recognition that if the pathways into homelessness are complex, the solutions must be equally complex.
It is now widely accepted that providing a person with a bed and a roof over their head does not solve the problem.
The Simon Community says that homelessness is, in fact, a secondary problem. They say that if a person experiences any three of the following primary problems – poverty, unemployment, family disputes and breakdown, sexual or physical abuse, a background of residential care, experience of prison or the armed forces, drug or alcohol misuse, school exclusion and poor mental or physical health, they are likely to find themselves homeless.
Simon has also identified a number of possible 'triggers' such as leaving the parental home following disputes, marital or relationship breakdown, eviction, widowhood, discharge from the armed forces, leaving care, leaving prison, or a sharp deterioration in mental health or an increase in alcohol or drug misuse.
Mr. Perry said that within Kildare people who are discharged from the armed forces, or retiring from the equine industry, have the potential to be at risk of homelessness.
“They can be institutionalised, and often don't know how to fill their days,” he explained, although he added that both the Army and equine industry was aware of the issue and have taken steps to help.
And the Council has two homelessness outreach workers that work with those who are homelessness.
“They work with people who are homeless, helping them to access the services they are entitled to, and be au fait with them,” Mr. Perry explained.
According to Bernie Geoghegan of Mount Offaly House in Athy, one of Kildare's hostels, there is no 'one size fits all' solution.
“We work with each individual to meet their needs.”
The facility has 13 beds, and is always more than half full. It works with people who are referred to them by the County Council, and offers, she explains, much more than a bed.
“The bottom line is progression. There is no time-frame for a person's stay here, because everybody is different, but there has to be a progression.
“This is basically a rehab facility. People can lose a lot of their skills, so we have classes in things like cookery and art to help them.
“We don't reinvent the wheel – we use whatever is out there in the community.”
Homelessness services in the County have come a long way in so far as it is no longer necessary for anyone to sleep rough.
“There's no need,” Mr. Perry said. “There are enough beds.”
The reason that some people continue to do live rough is possibly linked to the fact that there are no 'wet' hostels in the county. Unlike normal facilities, wet hostels allow people to stay even if they are drunk or are drinking.
There is currently no wet hostel in Kildare, but George Perry told the Leinster Leader that the Council is actively examining the option.
“By its very nature, a wet hostel must be highly supported,” he added.
And when asked if a wet hostel was the only piece of the jigsaw left to prevent people from sleeping rough, he remarked: “Quite possibly.”
Again referring to the 2007 Poverty Profile of the county, of those who were deemed to be homeless, 24 were acommodated in B&B's, eight in a mixture of hostel and B&B's, 44 in solely hostels, two in hotels, one was referred to a unit in Dublin, one was directed to another local authority, three were in private rented accomodation, one, a foreign national, was directed to repatriate, five stayed with a friend or relative and two went into treatment in a residential addiction centre.
However 26 were refused entry to the hostel, one was barred from hostels and three were listed as living rough.
It will be interesting to see the effect of changing homelessness services to a regional basis will have on the figures, and on the final outcomes for the people behind those figures.