Secret shelter to offer beds to homeless people

A SPECIAL cold weather shelter has opened in Cork to ensure no one has to sleep rough in the city this Christmas.

However, its exact location is being kept secret because people who used it last year were subjected to physical and verbal abuse from drunken revellers.

Cork’s Simon Community said they have been forced to keep the shelter’s location under wraps to ensure their clients’ safety.

The shelter, set up as part of a joint initiative with St Vincent de Paul, will offer beds to men and women sleeping rough in Cork over the Christmas period.

It will remain open throughout the holiday period and well into January.

Simon’s assistant director Aaron O’Connell said there are on average about 15 people sleeping rough on Cork’s streets every night.

“Our goal again this Christmas is for everyone who is sleeping rough to have a bed in a place that is warm, welcoming and secure each night during the coldest period of the year.

“It is an essential addition to the existing range of services available in Cork for men and women who find themselves homeless.”

The facility has been set up with help from one of the city’s biggest house and apartment builders Frinailla Developments, who helped with alterations and renovations to the building.

While services for the homeless have improved in recent years, Mr O’Connell said it is unacceptable that people are still sleeping rough. “The city’s 103-bed emergency accommodation is at full capacity,” he said.

“Each night we have to turn people away. While we are working to establish a permanent response to this need, it is important to provide a temporary response at this time of year.”

He said ending homelessness is possible if links that developed between Simon and Frinailla develop through the wider community. “The shelter is a perfect example of that close co-operation; local businesses like Frinailla acting responsibly, working in tandem with voluntary and statutory organisations to offer support and shelter to the city’s most vulnerable and marginalised men and women,” he said.

* Access to the shelter can be made through Cork Simon’s emergency shelter at Anderson’s Quay (Tel: [phone]), Cork Simon’s day centre (021 4278731), or by referral from any of the services for homeless people in the city.