Three types of homeless, says the council
THE HOMELESS in the county can be divided into three categories, families, single persons and rough sleepers, the December meeting of South Dublin County Council heard this week, reports Brendan Grehan.
Councillor Charlie O’Connor tabled a question asking the Chief Executive to present an end-of-year report on the homeless in the county.
For families the only option available to the council was to give families presenting as homeless the option to self-accommodate. Families who present as homeless are given advice on how the Self Accommodation option operates by staff in the Homeless Unit.
The Council said that Family Hubs are the preferred model of temporary accommodation for homeless families with assistance to move on to a home of their own. Hubs are available at Tallaght Cross, The Abberley and Respond Gleann na hEorna in Tallaght. The Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE) is currently examining the possibility of acquiring another Hub in the County.
Killininny House offers accommodation for single men, and additional placements are available as ‘step down/transitional’ in Gleann na hEorna in Springfield.
In relation to rough sleepers, the council said that the most recent count took place in November. The council operates an outreach service and multi-agency approach to address rough sleepers across the county.
In November 2017, there were 459 registered homeless in the county, of 203 were single males, 47 were single females, 10 were couples and 199 were families.
