The first major report on homelessness in an urban centre outside Dublin has found that an estimated 963 people were classified as homeless at some stage in Galway city last year.
This figure included 644 people who stayed at emergency shelters, 286 women and children who were accommodated at a women's refuge, 24 who stayed in residential houses, and an estimated 78 who slept rough in the city during 1998. Some of these categories overlap.
The report, commissioned by the Galway Simon Community, calls for funding for an emergency hostel for single women, a day care centre for the homeless, and the development of resettlement services in the city.
Dr Padraig MacNeela, the author of Homelessness in Gal- way, estimated that between five and 20 people slept rough in the city on any given night of the year.
He found that more people tended to sleep rough in Galway during the summer months, because of the improved weather. "It is an extreme behaviour at the end of the continuum of housing need, but our outreach programme shows that people regularly sleep rough in Galway," said Dr MacNeela.
Statistics on those sleeping rough were compiled through a voluntary outreach programme between December and March of this year. He admitted there were difficulties in carrying out a census in such circumstances.
He called on Galway Corporation to develop a clear and accountable application procedure for appraising an individual's homeless status, pointing out that the local authority did not have an emergency service.
"Only a handful of homeless people are registered on the housing list", he said. The housing needs of homeless people are consequently not recognised sufficiently by Galway Corporation. Access to services would be facilitated if it was possible to consult staff outside office hours.
Dr MacNeela also called on the Western Health Board to consider the homeless as having special needs in its five-year plan for primary healthcare. He called for greater research and resources to be targeted into improving the health and social gain of the homeless.
"The development of an overall strategy for homelessness services in Galway is desirable to address issues such as service inequity and the needs of particular client groups," he said.
Only a handful of homeless people are on the local authority waiting list for housing, which currently comprises over 800.