Focus Ireland adapting frontline services for Covid-19 pandemic

This time of year always comes with talk of getting home for Christmas, even if Covid has changed the narrative this year.

But Focus Ireland deals with a different question – what if you have no home?

The housing and homelessness organisation, set up by Sr Stanislaus Kennedy in 1985, is driven by the fundamental belief that homelessness is wrong.

Yet as of the end of September some 8,656 people were homeless across Ireland. The number of families who are homeless has increased by 232 per cent since publication of monthly figures began in 2014. Almost a third of people now living in emergency accommodation are children.

The profile of those without homes is changing too. Traditionally most people using emergency accommodation were single adults but recent years have seen a rapid increase in the number of families becoming homeless. In September of this year there were 1,128 families accessing emergency accommodation. That includes 2,583 children.

According to Focus Ireland’s research, the overwhelming number of families becoming homeless had their last stable home in the private rented sector. Most of the families becoming homeless have never experienced it before and never thought this could happen to them.

Last year Focus Ireland provided support to more than 15,000 people. This year the pandemic has brought additional challenges.

“From a services point of view the Focus Ireland team was really quick to adapt, changing the way we interact with customers to Zoom calls, for example. We kept all our frontline services open to be there for as many people as possible despite the restrictions and the need to keep everybody safe,” says Amy Carr, director of fundraising and marketing at Focus Ireland.

Services

It provides an array of services from queries about tenancy rights to providing people with a pathway into other support services. It also provides emergency accommodation.

“We have seen an increase in demand for services, especially during the first lockdown as the public became really scared about losing jobs, ringing with queries about tenancies, Covid restrictions and the moratorium on evictions,” she says.

“We are very proud of our services and our staff. We kept our coffee shop open as much as we could within the restrictions including a takeaway service to make sure people could still get a meal. For some people it could often be the only social interaction they have in a day.”

The pandemic makes homelessness even harder. “Loneliness, isolation and mental health issues all play into Covid. We have seen that as quite a significant issue. We’re also seeing an increase in people fleeing from domestic violence which can be a route into homeless,” she says.

Right now fundraising is a worry. It has had great successes including its Shine a Light campaign, which went virtual and raised €1.84 million against a target of €1.3 million. “The support of people has been absolutely incredible,” she says.

However, as of mid-November, the organisation still had €3.4 million to raise by the end of the year to meet its own target.