HSE moves to secure more funding for homeless

The Health Service Executive has said it is in negotiations with the Department of Health in an effort to secure increased funding for homeless services.

This follows ongoing criticism by homeless agencies of the HSE's decision to freeze funding for the sector.

The HSE said in February that funding for homeless services this year would remain at 2007 levels. In addition, at least 60 new projects that had been assessed for funding by the Homeless Agency will not receive funding this year.

The Homeless Agency - the State body charged with distributing funding to service providers – has warned that recent improvements made in tackling homelessness will be undermined if the HSE decision is not reversed and the Government's target of ending homelessness in Dublin by 2010 will not be met.

Last night, HSE spokesman Fergus Black denied on RTÉ's Prime Timeprogramme that the funding freeze constituted "cutbacks". He said the HSE was forced to introduce the freeze because it had not been allocated any additional homelessness funding by the Department of Health this year.

The HSE has an annual budget of €33 million for homeless services across the State, of which €19 million is for use in Dublin.

Mr Black accepted there were "current difficulties" in homeless service provision, but said the HSE was "actively in negotiations" with the Department over additional funds.

A number of projects approved by the Homeless Agency have been put on hold this year because of funding shortfalls.

Earlier this year, the De Paul Trust was due to open a new €7,000,000 project on James's Street which would have provided 30 homes for those moving on from emergency accommodation. However, it remains closed as the trust says it cannot afford to recruit staff.

A new drop-in facility in Middle Abbey Street designed to address the problem of antisocial behaviour on the Liffey boardwalk has also been shelved after being denied funding by the HSE.

A building on Bolton Street, purchased by Dublin City Council to provide accommodation for rough sleepers, may not open this year as it has not secured operational funding from the HSE.

In addition, a 70-bed hostel providing provides accommodation for homeless women and their children off Brunswick Street in Dublin's north inner city is being underused due to funding shortfalls, while funding issues are also causing problems at a facility on Cork Street providing transitional accommodation for vulnerable people with special needs.

Mr Black said the HSE was "very hopeful" that at least one of the empty facilities would be open in the "not too distant future".

He also acknowledged that although the HSE's out-of-hours phoneline answered 70,000 calls a year from people seeking beds for the night, many people were unable to access the line and it needed to be improved.

Fine Gael's health spokesman called on the Government to immediately provide the funding to enable the empty or under-used facilities to operate. "What will it take to open these buildings? A homeless person found dead from exposure in the doorway of a newly-built but empty hostel?" he asked.

According to Simon Community, at least 55 homeless people died in Ireland in 2006. The Prime Timeprogramme claimed seven homeless people died in Dublin during two weeks this Easter.

Dublin Simon Community chief executive Sam McGuinness said official figures showing 111 people sleep rough on Dublin's streets each night were the "absolute minimum". He said Simon workers in Dublin met over 300 people in February who experiencing some form of homelessness.

"We cannot standby and see the most vulnerable of our city suffer even more hardships due to the inadequacies of the HSE," he said.