New complex provides support for minors entering our country alone
By Brendan Grehan
A NEW Children’s Home and apartment complex was opened last week in Firhouse by Novas. The opening was performed by Deputy Sean Crowe.
The new campus, with two services in situ, comprises eight two-bed apartments as well as a six-bed children’s home for unaccompanied minors entering the state. Construction of the new facility began in mid-2013.
Bellevue House, the only service of its type in the State, provides support and accommodation for unaccompanied minors entering the country.
The service meets all the needs of its residents. With generous communal living quarters, combined with individual bedrooms, it provides the teenagers with space, independence, security and comfort within a home-like environment, while being separated from their families.
Eight families, all from the housing waiting list of South Dublin County Council, reside in the apartment complex.
The complex meets the needs of all its tenants, with some families having previously lived in emergency homeless accommodation. This is Novas’s first general needs housing development
Deputy Crowe noted that the service is a ‘beacon of light’ and shows leadership in the sector. He went on to say all the politicians of the area were very proud of the new development.
Michael Goulding, Novas’s CEO, noted the poignancy of this fantastic new service being opened on the same day that such startling figures about homelessness are being highlighted in Novas 2014 Annual Report.
He added “ The development of the Haarlem Court campus is one of a range of responses by Novas to the national housing crisis and Novas is ready to play its part in supporting migrants entering the country.”
Novas’s annual report reveals that Novas supported more than 2,200 people throughout the country during 2014, this being a 131 per cent increase in numbers accessing support over a five-year period.
The report also described how, despite the increasing numbers of people supported and the range of new services opened, this figure accounted for just 77 per cent of all those accessing a Novas facility throughout the year.
Just 42 per cent of those seeking temporary supported accommodation were in receipt of a service as demand continually outstripped capacity during the twelve-month period.
The organisation took a number of steps to address this issue including an extension of its Housing First and tenancy sustainment services, the establishment of a new mental health service, the redevelopment and extension of Brother Russell House in Limerick and the development of Bellevue House and Haarlem Court.
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