Half of homeless people mentally ill - Simon

As many as 50 per cent of homeless people have severe mental health problems, according to the director of the Dublin Simon Community. This is up from an estimated 35 per cent five years ago.

Mr Greg Maxwell, speaking before the publication today of the charity's annual report, asked whether the homeless services had "become a dumping ground for the chronically mentally ill".

The charity's report finds 25 per cent of people who access Simon's homeless shelter have been diagnosed with a severe mental health disability.

"The thing to bear in mind though is that while 25 per cent were formally diagnosed with mental health problems our experience is that the true figure is probably twice that," said Mr Maxwell.

The number of people accessing the shelter since 1999 had more than doubled, said Mr Maxwell. Last year some 70 per cent of the 813 who used the shelter were newly homeless.

The reasons people are becoming homeless include poverty, addiction problems and, for a significant number, mental health problems.

"These people are a mixture of people who have either been discharged from psychiatric institutions or also who suffer as a result of the enormously bureaucratic system in the mental health services," said Mr Maxwell.

There are 1,500 people mentally ill and homeless in Ireland, according to the report. Rough sleepers are 20 times more likely than the rest of the population to suffer severe mental health problems.

Mr Maxwell said the psychiatric services appeared "determined to exclude `difficult' cases", citing a case of one man who uses the Dublin shelter but who is from Limerick.

"Now he has to go back to Limerick twice a week if he wants to get the treatment to which he is entitled, because that is his catchment area."

Mr Maxwell criticised the tendency for mental health services to view lack of accommodation as the most pressing problem facing homeless people with mental health problems. He said a mental health problem was a "huge impediment" to a person "getting themselves off the streets" and said it was the most important issue. "If someone needs a roof over their head, if they have a mental health problem, it may be that the roof they need is a psychiatric hospital." He also called for an easing of access to day services.

Some four out of 10 homeless people accessing Simon services had been sexually abused, the report continues, while 12 per cent suffered from drug addiction and 44 per cent from alcohol dependency.

Rough sleepers are three times more likely to suffer from chronic chest or breathing problems than the rest of the population and twice as likely to experience muscle, joint and digestive problems. Even so, 50 per cent of rough sleepers met by the Simon outreach workers did not have a medical card or a GP.