Peter McVerry Trust signs partnership with US service to develop homeless service in Ireland

The Peter McVerry Trust is looking to America to develop the future for homeless services here.

It is signing up to a unique international partnership with the Pathways Housing First Institute in the US.

CEO Pat Doyle says they will get advice and be monitored as they develop the trust in line with best international practice.

He said: "It came out of street homelessness in New York, particularly with veterans, where people didn't like to see their veterans coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq, and then being homeless.

"The idea was that you bypassed the hostel, bypassed the treatment services and all the rest and went straight into accommodation, their own key to the door."