Homelessness is increasing among men aged 30 to 45 in Dublin, according to a body which provides medical and social services to the homeless.
Trust, which works from the basement of the Iveagh Hostel, says that many of these men "find it impossible to get even basic accommodation".
They then find it difficult to claim social welfare benefits as they have no address, it says in a submission to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. The Department has been inviting submissions (the deadline was yesterday) for a White Paper on voluntary activity to be published early next year. The submission is signed by Nurse Alice Leahy, the director of Trust.
The submission warns that an insistence that agencies show they are successful when seeking State funding can pose problems where an agency's clients are unlikely ever to be successful in society's eyes. "This approach can lead to the exclusion of a growing number of vulnerable human beings whose `success' cannot be measured in society's terms," it says. It also objects to the amount of information sought by statutory and voluntary agencies from homeless people. "There is a fine line between the information required to help them on a practical level, and information required to gain funding, for publicity and for strategic purposes," it says. "We would request that the ethical issues relating to the collection of data on homeless people be further examined and that there be safeguards included in the White Paper to protect the democratic rights of people who are exceptionally vulnerable."
People working with the homeless should also respect the rights of the wider community, it says. "We suggest greater consultation between planners, agencies and government bodies to ensure that drug treatment centres, housing for people who have had/have psychiatric difficulties and homes for people who are homeless are set up with the knowledge, support and goodwill of the wider community," it says.
Trust is 25 years old and is chaired by Prof James McCormick, former head of community health, Trinity College, Dublin.