More seek help from homeless charity

THE NUMBER of people seeking help from one of Dublin’s largest homeless charities has reached 700 so far this year – an increase of about 120 on this time last year.

A significant new component were those in private rented accommodation facing homelessness because they have lost their jobs, said Focus Ireland spokesman Roughan McNamara.

“We are finding an increase in the number of people coming to our drop-in information service at our coffee shop who have never faced anything like the prospect of becoming homeless before. They are mainly people in private rented accommodation who were living quite comfortably and who have lost their jobs. A lot of them would have been in construction and service industry-type jobs.”

He said these people had been largely “forgotten by politicians who talk about people not being able to pay their mortgages”.

“People in private rented accommodation tend to be that bit more exposed, because they don’t have a stake in the property.

“Some of them we find are leaving coming to us for information until the last minute, maybe when they’ve already lost the roof over their heads because they’ve been hoping things would get better.”

This was unfortunate, he continued, because there were rights many people had no idea they had, such as the rent supplement, which can keep people in their homes.

“Sometimes it requires a third-party advocate like ourselves to come to some arrangement with the landlord.”

He cited one recent example of a woman in her 20s with a young child who had lost her part-time job and came to Focus Ireland for advice only after she had been evicted and was by then living in a hostel.

They helped her get back into rented accommodation.

“For a lot of these people who have no experience of a recession it can be very traumatic.”

Focus Ireland has linked up with citizens’ advice centres in Dublin city.

“They have been able to send people to us and link people into the information we can give. Partnership like this is vital, particularly as we expect more people to be looking for help as the recession bites deeper.”

Asked about funding, Mr McNamara said there had been a reduction and it was a situation the charity was “keeping a very close eye on”.

“The support from the public is is still very strong though and the number of people taking part in events and fundraising for us has been great to see.”