Homelessness - Give what you can

The past five years have been gruelling for local and national charities scrambling to maintain services while trying not to add to the burden on contributors who are themselves enduring difficult economic times.

At the coal-face are charities such as the Simon Community which caters to the needs of our most vulnerable citizens, many of whom live rough on the streets. In its annual review, the Dublin Simon Community reported what it describes as a frightening increase in homelessness in the capital in recent months.

Its rough sleeper counts in Dublin city centre have shown an 88% increase on last year and are now the highest ever, it says. This is bound to put the Government’s promise to end homelessness by 2016 in jeopardy. Dublin Simon fears that next month’s budget could makes things even worse.