Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jul 2000
Source: Irish Examiner (Ireland)
Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 2000
Contact:  http://www.examiner.ie/

SIMON TRIES TO OPEN DOORS FOR YOUNG HOMELESS

IMAGINE ... you're 15. You left home because you couldn't stick the sexual 
abuse anymore. You didn't know where to go for help, so you started 
sleeping rough.

You're so scared of being attacked that you don't get any rest. Someone 
told you that you might be able to get a hostel bed if you go to a garda 
station, but you're worried they might send you home to your father.

Your savings run out, so you start begging to get money for food. You feel 
so lonely and depressed that you're tempted to start taking the drugs that 
are being offered to you. Anything to block out the pain.

For many young people, this scenario isn't just a figment of their 
imagination. It's reality. Cork Simon Community, however, is trying to turn 
this reality around with its new Youth Homeless Drugs Prevention Project.

The project is designed to help homeless young people under the age of 26 
to access services relevant to their needs relating to homelessness and 
drug use. It also aims to gauge the extent of the problem in Cork.

The project was established in September 1999 in response to the dramatic 
increase in the number of young people becoming homeless and sleeping rough 
in Cork.

In 1999, 20% of the 1,094 people who stayed at the Cork Simon shelter were 
under 25 years of age. "Young people, some as young as 12 and 13, are 
sleeping rough in the city," reports James Boyd, project co-ordinator. "To 
date, this problem has not been recognised and the response has not been 
adequate."

Young people usually become homeless due to a breakdown in the family, in 
contrast to older people, who become homeless for a wider variety of reasons.

"Many (young people) will develop a drug or alcohol addiction after they 
become homeless," says Boyd, explaining that homeless young people use 
drugs and alcohol to escape the unhappiness of their lives." It's rarely 
for recreation. It's self-medication."

Youth homelessness is a significant problem in urban centres, where young 
homeless people from around the country tend to gravitate. A survey by the 
Economic and Social Research Institute estimated that 28B75% of the 2,900 
people who were homeless in the Dublin region at the end of March 1999 were 
25 years of age or less.

In 1998 the percentage of people under 25 who stayed at the Cork Simon's 
emergency shelter rose from 6% to 22%. This figure doesn't include children 
as young as 14 who were contacted by the nightly soup-run.

The problem of youth homelessness isn't as obvious in Cork as it is in 
Dublin. "In Dublin you go to seven or eight areas and find homeless young 
people," notes Boyd. "In Cork you have difficulty finding people." Homeless 
young people tend to hide in places like squats and derelict buildings on 
the outskirts of Cork, rather than sleep in city centre doorways and other 
exposed areas.

They hide to avoid the gardai, who are more likely to arrest them for 
drinking on the streets than in Dublin. (Alcohol tends to be the most 
common drug amongst homeless young people in Cork.) The other reason is 
pride." Young people don't want to be stigmatised," explains Boyd.

As of June, the project's outreach team had met 15 young people over the 
preceding three-to-four months. Sixty-four young people used the project's 
11am to 2pm drop-in service at the shelter.

Boyd sees these numbers as not being indicative of the full extent of the 
problem because young people are less likely to come to Simon. 
Traditionally, the Simon Community has been perceived as a service for 
older homeless people.

Homeless young people are more likely to gravitate to Dublin than to Cork 
because there are more services in place. Until the establishment of this 
new project, there was no outreach service for homeless people in Cork 
other than Cork Simon's soup run. Cork only has a Monday to Friday 9-5 
statutory service for homeless children unlike Dublin which has a 24-hour 
service.

Dublin may have more services in place, but it isn't exactly heaven for 
homeless youth. The recent Report of the Forum on Youth Homelessness 
slammed the current system in Dublin for, among other things, poor 
co-ordination of services and a mismatch of services required by young 
people and those available to them.

Boyd has made contact with a large number of external services to create 
and develop a network of services for homeless youth. "We provide a 
detailed and comprehensive needs assessment of all areas of their lives, 
not just drugs," he says. We then try to agree with the young person on a 
way forward." Based on his experiences, Boyd reveals that services for 
people experiencing homelessness are very poor in Cork. "We need flexible, 
alternative services," he says.

The data collected through the project's activities will be used to 
complete a research document. Boyd hopes that this document, combined with 
project evaluation reports completed by University College Cork, will 
provide Cork Simon, Cork Corporation, the Southern Health Board, and other 
agencies with information to help them respond to Cork's young homeless 
population.

Imagine ... when you were 15, you lived on the streets for a short time. 
Luckily, you met an outreach worker who helped you link into the services 
that you needed. It was a hard slog, but now you're back on track.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart