A NEW emergency accommodation service for homeless people in Athlone has been operating at close to full capacity since it opened four months ago.
The service, operated by the Midlands Simon Community, has been officially opened. It is the only purpose-built centre for single homeless men and women in Westmeath.
Angela Killion of the Midlands Simon Community said the service would help prevent significant numbers of people sleeping rough or staying in unsafe settings.
“This responds to people’s emergency accommodation needs and also supports people to move out of homelessness and into a home of their own,” Ms Killion said.
It was officially opened yesterday by Minister of State for housing Michael Finneran, who used the occasion to announce plans to lease out hundreds of houses for people stuck in emergency or BB accommodation.
Under the initiative local authorities will lease out about 300 houses around the State for an estimated 600 homeless people, as well as providing support services.
Sam McGuinness of the Dublin Simon Community yesterday welcomed the plan, but said it was scandalous that a majority of homeless people in emergency services have been stuck there for several years, with little or no access to “move on” accommodation.
He said that while long-term accommodation was vital, there was still significant demand for people in need of emergency shelters, which was evident in the numbers accessing the cold-weather hostel established by Minister for the Environment John Gormley.
This shelter was closed in recent weeks.
Nationally, the Simon Communities of Ireland has expressed concern that many services have yet to receive confirmation of their State funding allocation for 2009.
