Scheme to assist homeless stalled over lack of funds

PLANS to prevent prisons being used as a “dumping ground” for homeless people have been shelved because of a lack of resources, according to one of the country’s leading unions.

Chairperson of the Probation and Welfare Officers Board of IMPACT, Brian Horgan, said a Government strategy aimed at cutting the level of crime committed by homeless people is failing because no money has been provided to hire extra staff to implement it.

The Homeless Preventative Strategy was launched in February 2002 as part of the Government's three-year plan to tackle this growing problem. It brought together the Departments of the Environment, Justice, Education, and Health and Children, proposing new measures to prevent homelessness among offenders, those leaving mental health facilities and young people leaving care.

While Mr Horgan believes the strategy could be effective, he says the Government's refusal to hire any extra probation officers is stalling the plan.

"We are very fearful this initiative will be stillborn. Anyone working in the courts or probation services will tell you that homelessness is a contributory factor to offending in a large number of cases. This initiative was a means to address this, and we are very concerned it is not being implemented," he said.

"The irony is that it now costs around €90,000 a year to keep someone in prison, for a year and providing accommodation in the community for these people is actually far cheaper. But these economics don't seem to make sense to the present Government," he said.

Agencies working with homeless people are also concerned that prison is being used to get homeless people off the street and into a bed.

"Prison has become a dumping ground for many homeless people. It has got to the stage where many people want to go to jail for some minor crime they have committed because it means they will have a bed and something to eat, " said Alice Leahy, founder of Trust.

Fr Peter McVerry, who has been working with homeless youths for 25 years, also believes prison is now seen as a means of providing homeless people with a bed.

"If you come before a court with no fixed abode you are automatically remanded into custody. Many judges will also hand down prison sentences out of concern for a person, to ensure they have a bed, rather than out of retribution for the crime they have committed," Fr McVerry said.

Assistant director of Simon in Cork, Aaron O'Connell, said prison was often not an appropriate response to a homeless person and would certainly not address the issue of why they ended up in jail or became homeless in the first place.

Head of the Homeless Offenders Strategy Team Vivian Geiran admitted the team needed more staff to fully implement the strategy, but insisted the scheme was working.

"We are always looking for more staff: the more we get the more we can do. We are always juggling and do our best on the resources provided," he said.

The Department of Justice said there was no hiring freeze on probation or welfare officers, and that a number of interviews were currently being conducted.