HOMELESS

We all need a home, love, and security. If one of those things, or all of them, are taken away from us, then we can feel lonely, on the margins, left out.

There is nothing worse than this feeling - nothing more disturbing. So this Christmas, as we all gather together, why don’t we examine what it actually means to feel homeless, writes Sean O’Neill.

True Story

A 39 year-old homeless man, wandered the streets of Limerick. He noticed that the nights were getting darker earlier, and the temperature was dropping. The leaves on the trees were turning a vibrant golden colour and it seemed that Autumn was approaching.
He was never before in this big city. But he knew that sitting outdoors behind bus shelters, on the streets, would be no use during the cold night. So he began looking for a warmer place to sleep.
Finally, tired and exhausted, he came across a large bin, full of household waste, things nobody really wanted anymore. So ignoring the smell, and desperate to get some shelter, security and warmth, the man climbed in.
He felt cocooned in this new world and it wasn’t long before he fell into a deep sleep.
The man didn’t hear the noise of the refuse lorry as it made its approach in the early hours of the morning.
The refuse collectors didn’t think to check. It was a sharp, crisp morning and they were in a hurry to get their work finished, and head home to their cosy beds for some well deserved rest.
They didn’t notice the black shape of the man, curled up at the bottom of the bin, as it was loaded into the lorry. The turbine began moving inside, and the bits of waste were slowly fed into its hungry jaws.
The truck journeyed on to the recycling depot outside the city. It stopped and dumped its load into a larger refuse area. A worker approached and began sifting through some of the household waste and noticed there was something unusual at the bottom. When he took a closer look, he saw the face of a man.
A post-mortem was held a few days later, and the gardai said marks on the homeless man’s body were consistent with being flung around inside the lorry.
Very quickly the gardai ruled out murder. They said the man was originally from the south of England, and they were trying to contact his family.

No ID

closer, he could smell the body and noticed the number of flies around the flat. There was no answer to his knock on the door and he forced an entry.
On a mattress in what appeared to be a bedroom, in green trousers and white trainers, Paul Smith lay dead.
According to PC Naughton’s statement, no valuables were found and the flat was a mess; the contents of the fridge mouldy.
There were no signs of a break-in or a disturbance, and incoline (diabetic medication) was found in the kitchen cupboard. PC Naughton called the Brent coroner’s officer Sally Jones, who arranged for the undertakers to collect the body.
An inquest was opened and a reference number assigned, to trace next of kin. Paul’s body stayed in the mortuary while police tried to gather more information and Jones contacted his GP to find out his medical history.
Five months after Paul’s Smith’s body was found, on October 17, DC David Rochester, from Brent Missing Persons Unit, told Sally Jones that the inquiries into Paul Smith were over. There was no next of kin”.

Dare To Discuss:
Are we blind to homelessness? Check out what happened next to the unidentified homeless man? Who was he?

Dare To Discuss:
How do you think a person becomes displaced?

Joe’s Story

“My name is Joe, I am 17 years old. When I was growing up my life was quite unsettled. My mother and father split up when I was 10. My mother and sister moved away and I stayed with my father.
As I grew up our relationship started going bad, we argued a lot and social services became involved.
I stayed with different aunts and uncles because I couldn’t stay at home. When I turned 16 my social worker referred me to The Youth Accommodation Support Project. There I was given a support worker who helped me apply for benefits and found me somewhere to live.
This was temporary accommodation and I had to share a kitchen and bathroom with other people, which I didn’t like. My support worker helped me with other things that where going wrong, she helped me get help to stop using drugs. I now have my own flat and my support worker helped me find the right furniture and decorate it.
She now calls to see me every week to make sure I am ok. I am also friends with my dad again, which is good, he now helps me with my training course and we are getting on a lot better”.

“Moving To A New Life”

“I’m 21 and moved to Northern Ireland about 10 months ago to start a new life. I previously lived in Nottingham but found it too difficult to live there.
I left home when I was 16. Things were not going well between my mum and myself so I moved into a hostel. I’d always stereotyped hostels as being full of alcoholics and drug abusers. I even thought they were full of thieves…how wrong was I.
I actually found that hostels were for all different kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds. Some people move to them because they can’t cope on their own. Some move into them because they leave care. Yes there are people who drink and take drugs but that’s no excuse for people to stereotype us.
I for one shouldn’t have stereotyped a hostel person…we’re normal people too..who want the same things out of life”.

MakeRoom

Last December the first public MakeRoom campaign was launched. The Irish Government said they would end homelessness by 2010. They formed a Sign Up Form.
The promises included:
• I accept, without any prejudice, that all members of our society have a right to a decent place to live.
• I respect the diversity of my country and welcome this uniqueness into my own community.
• I will actively lobby my local councillors and TDs to deliver high quality social housing in my community.
• I will stand up for those people who are subject to the injustice of homelessness in my community.
• I will treat any tenant of mine with dignity and respect.

Dare To Discuss:
Could I develop my own MakeRoom petition?

Homeless

“To us, homelessness is about more than just being without a roof or a house. It is about lack of shelter, lack of security, lack of belonging, and lack of safety”. Simon Communities of Ireland.

Focus Ireland

Legally a person is regarded as being homeless if - there’s no accommodation available which, the authorities think the person can reasonably occupy. And also if the person is living in a hospital, county home, night shelter or other such institution and is incapable of getting shelter.

They say there are 3 categories of homeless:
• Visible Homeless: those sleeping rough and/or those accommodated in emergency shelters or Bed and Breakfasts
• Hidden Homeless: those families or individuals involuntarily sharing with family and friends, those in insecure accommodation or those living in housing that is woefully inadequate or sub-standard
• At risk of Homelessness: those who currently have housing but are likely to become homeless due to economic difficulties, too high a rent burden, insecure tenure or health difficulties.
Tony found himself homeless when he split from his partner of eight years. Despite his medical condition – he has a brain injury and bipolar disorder, the council refused to find him a home.

Tony - “I’ve Lived In A Friend’s Derelict Car”

“I’ve got ABI (Acquired Brain Injury) and I also suffer with bipolar. I was made homeless when my partner could not cope with my medical condition and alcohol problems.
I’ve been living in two hostels, but they asked me to leave. They couldn’t cope with my medical needs. So I’ve been into B & B and pay this out of my Disability Allowance and income support, because the council were not going to pay for the B & B.
They did suggest I rented privately, but there are no landlords who will accept DSS payments.
I have been homeless since August 2006 and I am now trying to get into a Salvation Army hostel but this is now my last resort. I am not well and cannot cope with much more stress.
I have a CPN and psychiatrist and a brain injury charity on my side but the council consider I am not vulnerable. Fortunately, my partner supports me in many ways but cannot help with any accommodation. I’ve still not sorted any housing out. I have lived in a friend’s derelict car and at the bottom of the garden in a shed.
I hope other people in my situation have not found the same problems”.

Affirming Dignity

“It has been my privilege to have been able to work with homeless people for so many years.

I have received so much from them. They have totally and radically changed me. They have taught me to be grateful for the gifts of family and opportunities which I was so fortunate to receive. Nobody chooses the
circumstances of their birth; when I see them, I see a part of myself – I too could be that homeless person. And they have revealed to me the dark
side of Irish society, a society that has lost its sense of outrage, a society that, although wealthy beyond its dreams of only a decade ago, refuses to acknowledge the dignity of those it has pushed to the margins.
Affirming that dignity is the task of those of us who work with homeless people. When we witness the daily struggle of homeless people to affirm their own dignity, in the face of innumerable obstacles, that task becomes easy, life-giving and humbling”.

(Fr. Peter McVerry from Dublin, when he received the 2006 Harry McKillop Irish Spirit Award for his efforts and dedication to helping the homeless and most vulnerable and abandoned in Irish society).
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Norman Mac Ewan

Think about it…

•What is home to me?
•Have I ever felt homeless?
•Have I ever been a Good Samaritan?
• What can I do for homeless people?

There are other types of homelessness we sometimes don’t even speak about. Take the story of Sabine Dardenne who in 1996 at the age of twelve, was kidnapped by Marc Dutroux.
He was one of Belgium’s most heinous paedophiles. She was his prisoner for eighty days.
On her release Sabine wrote a book called I Choose To Live. In this extract she recounts how she felt about her mother. In a world where Sabine showed amazing courage and strength of spirit, in a horrific nightmare – she claimed to still feel have felt bereft of maternal love.
“The years between fifteen and nineteen were the most difficult of my life. It’s not an easy time for anyone, and I suspect that even if what happened to me hadn’t happened, my adolescence would have been fraught.
In terms of my family, I had always felt myself to be an outsider. I was convinced that my parents had never wanted me, that my birth was an ‘accident’. If this was a joke, it was one that backfired, because I took it literally, communication never having been a strong point in our family.
Apart from being an ‘accident’, all I knew was that I’d been born between three and four in the morning. My mother couldn’t tell me the exact time, as she was under anaesthetic and they hadn’t allowed my father to be there for the Caesarean. I found her vagueness far from satisfactory.
I’ve always been obsessive about detail. In the rat hole I would go mad watching the clock: hours, minutes, seconds. My mother also told me that I was put in an incubator as soon as I was born because I was premature. And that I had a full head of hair.
That was it: the sum total of all I knew relating to my beginning. As for the expression on her face, it was like: so what more do you want me to tell you?
That she loved me, perhaps?”

Check out The Parable Of The Good Samaritan –
Luke Chapter 10, 29 – 37.

Prayer

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your rod and your staff – they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
In the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy
Will follow me all the days of my life.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
My whole life long.

Dare To Discuss:
Have I contributed to someone else’s homelessness?

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