Simon reports doubling of Dublin homeless

The number of newly homeless people on the streets of Dublin has more than doubled in the past year, figures from the Dublin Simon Community indicate.

The homelessness charity's annual report, to be published today, shows its outreach workers, who make contact with people sleeping rough, made 110 new contacts in the first three months of this year compared with 37 in the first quarter of 2002.

The number of new contacts in the first quarter of this year, the report says, "already exceeds the number for the first six months of 2002".

Some of this rise may be attributed to the increased amount of work being done by Dublin Simon's outreach workers, the annual report says, though Mr Bob Jordan, spokesman for Dublin Simon, said the new contacts were "mostly new homeless".

"A large proportion of these new contacts would appear to have been returning emigrants and also immigrants from the UK," the report says.

Some 68 per cent were from Dublin, 12 per cent from outside Dublin and 17 per cent were people whose last address was in Britain.

Eighty-seven per cent were men.

In his commentary Mr Greg Maxwell, chief executive of the charity, takes issue with recent assertions in the Dáil by the Minister of State for Housing, Mr Noel Ahern, that there are "about 79" people sleeping rough in Dublin city.

Referring to last November's Counted In study carried out by the ESRI, which found 312 people sleeping rough in Dublin, Mr Maxwell said: "The Minister is grossly at odds with official estimates".

The figure of 79 was reached in a head-count carried out in the Dublin City Council area over a period of two hours, while the ESRI figure was reached in a survey carried out over a week.

Mr Maxwell said the Minister's response to what he described as "one of the most urgent social issues in our capital city today" was "at best complacent".

"Volunteers and staff are working flat out as they attempt to respond to the needs of the many persons accessing our services," he said.

There had been little change in the number of people homeless in Dublin since the last official ESRI count in 1999 - up from 2,900 to 2,920 last year - said Mr Maxwell.

"Three years ago Government acknowledged this outcome as reflecting a homelessness crisis. Why is Government trying to avoid confirming the continued existence of a homelessness crisis?"

Funding remained a critical issue. The Government has failed, says the report, to provide the promised three-year multi-annual funding, inhibiting long-term planning.

"Secondly, project funding is still based on an archaic model of hostel bed nights, which takes no account of innovative services to move people out of homelessness."

As an example, the charity reports it got no Government funding at all for a €1 million training centre for homeless people it has just built in Dublin and had to rely on corporate support.

The report also highlights the links between mental ill-health and homelessness.

Some 22 per cent of people in contact with the charity's outreach services had mental health problems.

A further 10 per cent of those involved with the outreach services suffered both mental health and addiction problems.