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EVERY DAY FOCUS Ireland hears from families of the emotional pain they experience in having to enter homelessness with their children.
Through our child support workers – we also hear directly from the children about how this impacts them.
The recent report ‘No Place Like Home’ by the Ombudsman for Children gave children who are homeless a chance to have their voices heard.
That report provides independent evidence that even with the excellent support of the frontline staff in homeless organisations like ours- the impact of homelessness is devastating.
The thought that any person, especially a child, may have to experience this for a second time should be beyond imagining.
Sadly, this is happening fairly often.
Last year around 10% of the families who entered homeless services had been homeless before.
How can this happen?
We know that around 70% of homeless families had their last stable home in privately rented accommodation.
There are broadly two trajectories for families when they lose their home.
When faced with homelessness, many families are initially supported by friends or extended family members and this temporarily prevents them from having to present to homeless services.
But such offers of accommodation generally result in very stressful situations of severe overcrowding, sometimes eventually the situation becomes unsustainable and as a last resort, the families present as homeless to their local authority.
For some families – this can happen in reverse too.
That is they become homeless and enter homeless services, but upon realising the grim reality of living in the hotel room or B&B, they manage to get an offer of temporary support from an extended family member and so they leave homeless accommodation.
They are still a homeless household but it is just that someone has taken them in to keep a roof over their heads.
Again the situations are usually overcrowded so it is not sustainable and sometimes it breaks down and the homeless family are then forced to return to emergency homeless accommodation again.
Before 2018, the above scenario would have been the case for the vast majority of the families that Focus Ireland identified as returning to homelessness.
However, over the last 18 months, the number of families who have exited homelessness into the private rented sector and returned to homeless services, has increased.
This is usually because the landlord is selling up or needs the property for a family member.
It is important to say that the majority of those who leave homelessness do not return. Their numbers far exceed those who do return.
But the impact on those families who do become homeless for a second time is devastating and that issue has come into sharper focus in the last year.
Last May Dublin City Council stopped prioritising homeless people for social housing.
This means that for families who became homeless since May 2018, they are far less likely to get an offer of permanent social housing and thus the private rental market is usually their only option.
Solutions?
As is always the case when discussing homelessness, the only solution for these families is in the provision of secure homes.
Permanent social housing offered a clear trajectory out of homelessness into a secure home.
Local authorities need to look at the allocation of their housing stock. The administration of a scarce resource such as housing is fraught with difficulty and it is not to be underestimated.
Recent reports from Dublin City Council have evidenced that ending the priority for homeless families has had no impact on the number of families entering homelessness.
Prejudicial and stigmatising commentary such as ‘queue jumping’ or ‘gaming the system’ can also have a negative impact on families.
We need to ensure that when a family moves on from homelessness into the private rental market and then because of the insecurity in that market finds themselves homeless again – that the local authority prevents them from re-entering homeless services.
This could work in the case of HAP rentals in the same way that it does in another local authority rental system the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS).
If a RAS landlord chooses to sell up, the responsibility to secure appropriate alternative accommodation for the family falls to the local authority, rather than to the tenant.
Of course, the long-term response to homelessness is the provision of homes and repairing our broken housing system. This will require a new vision for housing but in the interim, we can and should do better for all those forced into homelessness.
Focus Ireland has warned that the deepening homelessness crisis will not be ended without a shift in government policy.
The most recent figures show a new record total of 10,305 people homeless. Much good work is being done but the crisis will continue unless there is a substantial increase in social housing provision – and a move away from a reliance on providing more emergency accommodation and hubs.
An honest reflection of the current situation must start from a recognition that the primary response to homelessness to date has been to build more emergency accommodation, rather than building more homes.
This approach will simply never work.
Since the homeless crisis began, Dublin has acquired thousands of extra emergency homeless beds but we now have fewer social houses than we did four years ago.
The delivery of social housing nationwide is also failing to meet demand.
It is clear that delivering more social housing would also help people who are struggling to find somewhere to live in the rental market, as it would directly result in freeing up many privately rented homes that are currently used for HAP tenancies.
To deliver any relief to homeless families, the government and local authorities must drive far more ambitious social housing targets and build new, viable communities on the scale required to address housing need.
Wayne Stanley is a policy analyst with Focus Ireland.
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A 20-30% drop? From what I’ve seen it’s more like 20-30% are still using public transport.
@Lurfic: it’s badly written. It says it has fallen TO between 25% and 30%.
I would read that as a 70% – 75% fall
@Lurfic: How can you keep apart on public transport…..you would want to be insane to use it but some have no choice.
@Lurfic: 400,000 people used Dublin bus a day last week, 80,000 to 120,000 now if your numbers are correct. This virus commonly spreads by touching contaminated surfaces.
There’s a famous case of a Dr who visited Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak in 2002-03. Stayed at a hotel, 11 people on the same floor got sick because they touched the same lift buttons.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/hong-kong-hotel-hosted-super-spreader-in-the-2003-sars-outbreak.html
“Whenever an individual makes contact with a surface, there is an exchange of microbial life, including a transfer of viruses from the individual to the surface and vice-versa.” Dietz et al., 2020
Public transport, especially Buses, are potentially a huge cause of infection because so many people touch the same surfaces each day.
I also say wrong advice given about dentists by the government today.
Ref.:
Dietz, L., Horve, P.F., Coil, D., Fretz, M. & Wymelenberg, K.V.D. 2020. 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: A Review of the Current Literature and Built Environment (BE) Considerations to Reduce Transmission, https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202003.0197.v1
Jan. 23: Public transport on buses, trains and ferries in Wuhan are suspended from 10 a.m. local time to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Good! less amount of people in close contact on public transport the better!
@Bobby wilson: And so they should continue! Most people are continuing. And there the ones who plan on cutting down historic trees and robbing peoples front gardens
@Whoswho:
Let’s get a grip here. In the last 2 weeks more people have been killed in traffic accidents than from COVID19. If we’re talking respiratory issues, there’s a direct correlation between the number of cars in Dublin and the number of children with asthma, other respiratory issues have been on the rise for quite some time too.
Fewer cars on the roads is better for us overall, buses aren’t the enemy here.
COVID19 is serious, and avoiding public transport right now is sensible, but this isn’t a normal situation and basing our transport policy purely on the events of these months is foolish.
@: OK you hop on a bus without a mask that actually works and see how you get on……this is only starting when it gets going it will be carnage.
@Peter Hughes:
Lad, I literally just said avoiding public transport right now is sensible. I’m saying we shouldn’t base our future transport policy on a once-a-century event.
U really have some sort of anti car agenda dont u. I’ve seen u on other posts and it always the same copy and paste remark.
The last post I read ur comments was where a young lad had died in a car in Clare. U turned that into a rant about jailing drivers who are polluting Dublin. Go away will ya, people like u with their little agendas, ur transparent.
@Sam Greene:
Opinions? In the comments section? Inconceivable!
And no the comment was that people who kill people with their cars should be jailed. Not exactly a radical idea.
Probably because most of Dublin is closed down & also good to see people are keeping their distance when they can!
Surely running a full service puts transport workers health at risk ?
Less transport would mean more people in the one bus/tram/train.
Particulary those with underlying health conditions.
@Ashling Fenton: Exactly – running fewer buses and trains would be ridiculous at this stage.
in other news…. when the sun goes down….. it gets dark
@thomas patrick: not if you turn the lights on
Portlaoise to Heuston train this week has been nearly empty in mornings. Some people still managed to be less than 2 metres away, with plenty of seats available.
All public transport should have hand sanitizer on them. I saw a Dublin bus today and people on it and NO social distancing. We need to temperley suspend public transport otherwise this will spread like wildfire.
@alan scott: How exactly are people to get to clinics, hospitals and their necessary services without public transport? It could well come down to walking because people don’t have the fare, but if they have no choices, and need to buy food, or medicines, that is what public transport is for.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: well i don’t see many people using public transport do you? and what is wrong with cars, don’t say people dont have cars, (neighbor’s can help out also that is looking out for the elderly message is for) a lot of volunteer organisations for which I’m part of are standing by FOR THIS REASON!!!!. You make yourself look silly with your comment goodbye. Stay safe
@alan scott: Yeah, good idea. You can fit at least 4 people in to a car!!!!
@alan scott: and please explain to me how you’re supposed to keep 2 metres away from your neighbour/family member/friend if they give you a lift? Hop in the boot?? Cop on will ya, not everyone has the luxury of having someone that can help like that at a moments notice.
@alan scott: we all don’t have cars some of us depend on public transport..
@Mark Mulligan: there is lots of frontline and volunteer organisations the irish red cross, st John’s, order of malta are standing by to help those in need, getting groceries, prescriptions, hospital visit etc. They are standing by to help free of charge. We will have face mask, gloves, face shield, and apron so the risk is low for us to get infected or likewise for them. Its better then been on Dublin bus where every day a junkie is injecting themselves or snorting something.
@Fr. Fintan Stack: according to rte news 75% in drop on public transport. I dont mean to across as been insensitive but people are been selfish by going on public transport where they are sitting in close proximity to each other when they know the risk is to high to travel on public transport. I dont think I have to get to work or il get sacked if I dont turn up is going to work with this virus. Many people are working from home including me, this is not going to easy but my health and others is more important.
@alan scott: People working on the front line in supermarkets, hospitals, surgeries, haulage, maintenance teams, etc. can’t work from home. The 25% still need to get to work or society will completely shut down. We cant just pack them off in to car sharing for obvious reasons. Public transport isn’t ideal but its better than the alternative.
@alan scott: OK, so how many staff have they got versus how many people require their assistance?? There’s not enough to help everyone and that’s why we still need a transport system in place for those who are mobile and still able to use it! As a bus driver I’d love to know what bus or busses you get that you see masses of drug taking. Have you reported it to the driver? The guards? Or do you pretend it doesn’t happen and hopefully it’ll go away
@Mark Mulligan: you have a point not all the time but it does happen. And I have reported it to both guards and the driver. I drive also so 85% of times I have to go somewhere I drive, maybe i dont see it from the point of view of people who use public transport as a necessity but from a hygiene point of view public transport in ireland and esp Dublin leaves much to be desired. Good day
@alan scott: now ur just being silly. Those services couldnt possibly cover all the people who would need their support if buses were not running. But people should defo be sitting apart and wear gloves so as not to touch the surfaces, poles ect on buses.
@alan scott: That goes against all the best advice worldwide. Some people must use public transport.
@alan scott: You can drive not all of us can for various reasons. Some people need to travel and you are ignoring that.
No implementation of social distancing on transport yet.
@Mark: my husband is a transport worker. They’ve only been given hand sanitizer. He is asking passengers to board at the front door only and disembark by centre doors. He said there are very few using public transport, but as long as people are working the NTA will provide a service. He also has an underlying health condition, I’m worried he might bring this virus into our home.
@Nicola McClurg: A Bus Eireann driver i know told me all they were given were baby wipes no hand sanatizer no gloves.. Crazy way for frontline staff to be treated
@Nicola McClurg: the Employers have a duty of care to their staff. Ur husband should be issued with gloves and hand sanitizer. Thats disgraceful.
Buses are normally filthy but no way in hell will I be using a bus or train during this pandemic.
@Lisa: I had no alternative but to get the bus today when going food shopping, as I don’t drive and the nearest supermarket is too far away to carry several, heavy bag-loads from. A woman – with a young boy beside her! – was close to coughing up her lungs. (I guess that she missed all those media notices about Self-Isolating if you think you might be infected.) Thankfully she was at the far end of the bus and well away from me. Don’t know what I’m going to do now as regards getting in vital provisions, but there’s no way I’m using public transport anymore while this crisis goes on.
@Sean May: she should have been arrested
@Sean May: time to get a bike with panniers buddy. No better time – quiet roads now and everything.
Kill two birds with one stone – virus free transport plus get your exercise in.
Cycling increasing in cities all over right now for those reasons
@Jazz Buckler: A nice suggestion, Jazz and appreciated. Alas, I have COPD, so while I can manage the walk to the supermarket okay, by the time I got back from there on a bike with a gonkey-load of shopping, I wouldn’t be needing to wait for Corona to finish me off, lol. I should add that I live alone and am socially isolated, so the option of having someone to drive me back does not exist either. Thanks for your comment though, and I hope that you and yours will all be okay. Cheers!
@Sean May: taxi is safer in this situation and drivers are voluntary ring your local one for assistance next time
@Sean May: are stores still doing home deliveries? I dont know if theyvare , but might help u if they are.
@Tony O Neill: Arrested for coughing. Great idea.
@Jazz Buckler: I was waiting for the bike says the day post
Not everyone in Dublin drives and there are people who still have to get to work to keep things going. Public transport has been a life saver for me.
Will only be using buses for hospital appointments from now on
@David Jordan Dr Who is a fictional character. He certainly did not appear in Hong Cong.
Any chance that the (few) bus drivers that love to jam on their brakes sharply (even with less traffic about!!) would calm their driving down? This seems like a sport to a rare few drivers – to jam on and cause passengers to lurch forward forcing them to grab onto the virus-laden handrails. Please, please drive a little more smoothly.
Also agree strongly that all drivers be supplied with masks, gloves and hand sanitiser – even the few brake-jammers out there!
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