An extra 50 beds for homeless people are being provided in Dublin and Kildare by the Peter McVerry Trust. The housing charity will offer the beds through the supported temporary accommodation model.
The opening of a 36-bed centre in Dublin city centre will provide accommodation for single men and couples, said chief executive Pat Doyle.
“This service will operate as a supported temporary accommodation service meaning that people will have a stable and secure medium-term placement of about six months. During that time Peter McVerry Trust will work to help people resident in the service to secure permanent accommodation outside of homeless services,” he said.
Mr Doyle said the new service brings to 76 the number of new beds provided by the trust in the last two weeks in Dublin, following the earlier opening of a 40-bed emergency accommodation service with Focus Ireland.
The new Kildare service in Michael Garry House, Newbridge, will operate a 14-bed supported temporary accommodation service for men and women.
Mr Doyle said the next few weeks would see renewed efforts by the trust to launch housing projects in Dublin.
“While much of our focus has been on provision of short- and medium-term accommodation in recent weeks, we have also done a significant amount of preparatory work on housing projects.
“We hope to begin work on some of these in January which will help provide permanent homes for people currently in homeless services,” he said.