Covid-19: 'Life’s hard enough sleeping on the streets without this happening'

Paula Byrne, the CEO of Merchants Quay Ireland, said the coronavirus pandemic had exacerbated what was already a trend of people with mental health issues interacting with services. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Mental health issues among people who are homeless are on the rise and Covid-19 has exacerbated the problem, according to Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI), which also said there was an urgent need for women-specific services, especially for those who have suffered trauma.

MQI launches its 2019 annual review today, showing an 11% increase in individuals seeking help for mental health issues - accounting for 433 people supported in 4,208 mental health interventions.

The report also shows that MQI helped more than 11,600 individuals last year, with its Riverbank Centre providing 109,010 meals to people who are homeless - an increase of 6% - and its night providing cafe sleeping mats 16,652 times across the year for 1,677 people. Almost 2,000 clients attended primary health care appointments and more than 3,100 people attended the MQI health promotion unit.

However, Paula Byrne, the CEO of Merchants Quay Ireland, said the coronavirus pandemic had exacerbated what was already a trend of people with mental health issues interacting with services.

She said people who are homeless have a higher incidence of mental health issues and there was also a connection between mental health and drug issues.

"In normal times people on the streets feel a lack of social connection and isolation and when they come into us for a cup of tea or whatever there is a connection with people at least," she said, adding there was also a lack of housing for people leaving drug treatment.

"Now in the pandemic it has just exacerbated how people are feeling - people are using services but they never accessed mental health services before, and we are seeing people with [pre-existing] depression and anxiety and mental health conditions needing support."

MQI helped 584 people aged 18-25 last year, but Ms Byrne also noted a high number of clients aged over 55, which she said she found "quite upsetting".

She also said the level of housing options for singles and couples was insufficient, saying she spotted two couples sleeping in doorways on Grafton St at 7.05am on Tuesday morning last and an increase in the number of people sleeping in tents.

She said there were also difficulties in getting women to engage with services.

"There appears to be much more of a stigma around women and homelessness, particularly if they have had children taken into care," she said.

A lot of services are very male orientated and a lot of women have experienced trauma and it is difficult for them to open up - we need more investment in gender-specific services.

As for recent comments made by Cork Penny Dinners that homeless women are subject to rape and sexual assault, Ms Byrne said: "I think it's fair to say there is a high proportion of women who have experienced that - domestic abuse, psychological scarring type behaviours, it wouldn't surprise me."

She also said MQI was conscious of the risk of trafficking and of young women being pulled into prostitution and it was working with Ruhama to help address those issues.

A decision is due next week on an application for judicial review of An Bord Pleanála's decision to grant planning permission for the supervised injecting facility which Ms Byrne said would take over from the night cafe, discontinued since the pandemic began.

A homeless woman on Nassau Street, Dublin. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Mairead, is a MQI client, and is currently living on the streets: "It’s got very hard, yeah. There's nothing around for people staying on the streets. I'm after being on the street since before Covid started, so I’ve been homeless the whole time, and it’s gotten harder and harder. It’s heartbreaking for the whole lot of us. You get more depressed now than before, and then you get more upset about your situation. 

Life’s hard enough sleeping on the streets, without something like this happening, and taking away the little we did have.

"Mental health has really gotten bad among homeless people. I'd notice since the Covid-19, a lot of people have killed themselves, jumping off bridges and that. Two friends we know who were homeless, two lads, they couldn’t take it anymore and they jumped in the Liffey and drowned.

"You’d really miss places like Merchant’s Quay and all. Going into them places, I was always in there, having a cup of tea, having a chat. Merchant’s Quay and homeless services are the only people who care, as far as I can see. 

"People who work for the homeless, that’s all, that’s all we have. Otherwise, we’re alone. Without the services, where we’d be able to go in and talk to people, and get our cup of tea and feel human, without that, we’ve nothing, only each other. And we’re losing more and more people as a result. We’d almost nothing to start with and now we’ve even less."