Homeless die as shelters idle for lack of funding

ALARM was expressed last night at the number of homeless people dying in Dublin while underfunded shelters are being left idle.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore demanded action from ministers to ensure more HSE money was made available, after it emerged that seven people relying on hostels or sleeping on the streets died in the capital over Easter.

The extent of the problem was exposed by RTÉ’s Prime Time, which revealed an effective HSE cut to homelessness services for 2008 meant five large homeless facilities in Dublin were either lying idle or being underutilised due to a lack of funding.

A further three homeless people, including a 22-year-old, died in the past fortnight in Dublin — while a 30-bed facility on St James’s Street, due to open earlier this year, remains closed because of lack of money for staff.

A Brunswick Street facility with 17 family units has seen only seven of them used since January, while a new homeless service on Middle Abbey Street has been denied HSE funding for running costs. On Cork Street, an emergency accommodation facility for homeless people with special needs remains underutilised, while on Bolton Street, the future of a proposed accommodation facility remains uncertain.

The HSE said it was negotiating with the Health Department to get additional funding after freezing its budget for this year.

The Homeless Agency — the state body charged with distributing funding to service providers — warned improvements made in tackling homelessness will be undermined if the HSE decision is not reversed, and the Government’s target of ending homelessness in Dublin by 2010 will not be met.

Fine Gael’s health spokesman James Reilly TD branded the facilities lying empty a “scandal”.

“What will it take to open these buildings? A homeless person found dead from exposure in the doorway of a newly built but empty hostel?” he asked.

Dublin Simon Community chief executive Sam McGuinness said about 300 people in the capital were experiencing some form of homelessness, and official figures showing 111 people sleeping rough on the city’s streets each night were the “absolute minimum”.

Mr Gilmore demanded urgency from Tánaiste Brian Cowen in dealing with the matter.

“These beds are available, but the doors are locked. When will they be made available to the homeless people who are lying in doorways around the streets,” Mr Gilmore said in the Dáil.

Mr Cowen said the problem appeared to be capital projects being completed early, before money was in place to deal with care-related costs. He said he would get ministers to look into it.

The HSE has an annual budget of €33 million for homeless services across the state, of which €19m is for use in Dublin.

Seven homeless people died in Dublin during a two-week period over Easter.

Three homeless people, including a 22-year-old, died in the capital in the past two weeks.

A 30-bed unit on St James’s St was built for €7m but is not open due to lack of funding for staff costs.

On Cork Street, only half of the 23 units designed for families are in use.

Just seven of the 17 units on Brunswick Street are in use.

A facility on Abbey Street for homeless people congregating on the river Liffey boardwalk is not functioning.

A new drop-in facility on Middle Abbey Street, designed to address the problem of antisocial behaviour on the boardwalk, has also been shelved after being denied funding by the HSE.

A building on Bolton Street, purchased by Dublin City Council to provide accommodation for rough sleepers, may not open this year as it has not secured operational funding from the HSE.