Where are the homeless?

cormie

After my friend bought me a roll tonight, I didn't really feel like having it, so after I dropped him home, I spent about 40 minutes driving through towns and other built up areas looking for a homeless person who might want it. Ok, so it was 3am, but at that time it's easy to find a homeless person in the capital city but not so easy elsewhere. I couldn't find anyone, which I suppose is a good thing? So are there many homeless people in your own local towns and if so where do they generally tend to spend the night?

admiralofthefleet

there are a few hostels around that take them in for the night, the ones that dont get in to the hostels must be hiding in some well covered doorway or in parks to keep warm and away from the weather, i feel sorry for them at this time of year regardless of their circumstances. (i always feel sorry for them but more at this time of year)

Dave!

Yeah I've noticed alot fewer than there used to be.

I imagine it's something to do with the cold weather. Maybe they seek refuge in hostels or whatever during the Winter.

admiralofthefleet

there was an article on rte news the other night about the very sad plight of child homlessness, but according to the report it has been reduced somewhat over the last few years

il gatto

I heard a report last year which stated that there was more homeless people on the streets of Dublin than London. Not proportionally. Actually more. Cosidering London has a population of 7 million and Dublin is around 1.5 million, thats shocking. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure thats what I heard.

BlitzKrieg

I heard a report last year which stated that there was more homeless people on the streets of Dublin than London. Not proportionally. Actually more.

I find that very difficult to believe...but stranger things are true.

il gatto

So did I, but I could nearly swear that's what it said.

Rabies

Homeless people fly south for the winter.

Christ, you spent 40 minutes driving around looking for a homeless person :eek:
Why? Was it to serve some personal purpose? Fine look around, try to find someone to give it, but 40min Jesus Christ.

I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking the same thing or maybe I am.

On a different note, there is a homeless guy that sleeps on a bench on Queen Street in Auckland. He also seems to work part time on a small cookie stall, but still sleeps on the bench Must be paid in cookies instead of money.

wyndham

They were probably all at home. Was fairly cold last night.

racso1975

The Homeless situation in cities versus town's is very different. Dublin homeless are less likely to book into a shelter due to previous bad experience like violence and theft.

When they do have to sleep rough homeless people are less likely to do it in a built up area due to

1 They noise at night time can be brutal to try and fall asleep in

2 The risk of drunk arseh@les have a laugh at you or try to fight with you

3 Gardai constantly movin you on till your out of the public eye

4 Pride(Ya neer know who a m meet)

The homless community in towns can be a lot smaller and hence they know each other a lot better if you check your heath board report for last year it will tell you how many per county

The_Conductor

Ireland's homeless people do tend to gravitate towards Dublin- and then towards specific areas (e.g. there are a group of perhaps 20 homeless living just off South Frederick Street, a few couples living on cardboard boxes in a sheltered alley between the National Museum and Department of Agriculture on Kildare Street, quite a few people on Nassau Street- etc.

There are hostels for young homeless people normally quite seperate from those for adults- e.g. there is one in Lucan village (it costs a young person about E20 per night inclusive of meals- which I imagine is difficult for a lot of homeless to gather together).

There are a few homeless people who have specific haunts- a young 14 year girl outside the passport office on Molesworth Street, an 18 year old guy sleeping in the doorway of the European Parliament Offices.

When you are around very early in the morning you do notice these things. O'Briens and some of the other shops in the area do hand out their soup and sandwiches at the end of the day- they do not go to waste.

I would not be one little bit surprised if there were numerically more homeless in Dublin, than in London. Its very sad to see such deprivation when in a lot of cases its a matter of circumstances.

If you see a homeless person do offer to get them a cup of tea/sandwich or a busticket (I am always worried to give them money- in a lot of cases it will be used for alcohol- not that I blame them, I'd probably do the same were I in their position).

S.

cormie

Rabies wrote:

Christ, you spent 40 minutes driving around looking for a homeless person :eek:
Why? Was it to serve some personal purpose? Fine look around, try to find someone to give it, but 40min Jesus Christ.

Well I hate to see food being wasted, so I thought a good way to avoid that would be to look for someone who would eat it. I think once you make the move to have a look, the time is spent doing so is irrelevant anyway. Although then you have to consider the environment effects of driving around for so long:o

Seth Brundle

There are usually a few camped out around the Jervis St area and also another few on the main doors of our courts. Justice!

Fair play to you Cormie!

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Stargal

The numbers of homeless people in Ireland have been declining over the past few years - from around 5,000 in 2002 to just over 3,000 in 2005.

A lot of these are people living in hostels and emergency accommodation, which are provided by a range of voluntary bodies. Estimates vary, but there's only around 200 people sleeping rough in Dublin.

Sorry, I should qualify that - 200 people is still a hell of a lot, but it's not really as many as you'd probably have thought.

markk06

Personally i think there are alot more than there used to be. All you have to do is walk by the Gaeity theatre at any time of the day and there will be a good few standing around. In fact when i'm on my way to college i pass about ten every day, same guys in the same place day in day out.

On the subject of shops giving them food, I personally know of one major retailer who would have a lot of short life products that have to be thrown out.. Sandwiches etc.. They used give these to charities to distribute to homeless people until some bum got an out of date sandwich and sued.... That was the end of that, their 400 stores stopped after that.

The_Minister

smccarrick wrote:

If you see a homeless person do offer to get them a cup of tea/sandwich or a busticket (I am always worried to give them money- in a lot of cases it will be used for alcohol- not that I blame them, I'd probably do the same were I in their position).

This is the trainee economist in me talking, but you do realise that if you give them food, and other people give them money, then they will spend less of that money on food, and more on alcohol, as they need to buy less food. So in effect, by giving them food, you are raising the amount of alcohol that they can buy.

MrJoeSoap

wyndham wrote:

They were probably all at home. Was fairly cold last night.

Not sure if this is some poor attempt at trolling, or genuine stupidity...

Either way :rolleyes:

I had a good (albeit drunken) chat with a couple of homeless lads earlier in the year, gave them a few quid and I was leaving they said "safe home".

Without thinking I just said "same to you" and walked off, haven't forgiven myself since.

markk06

MrJoeSoap wrote:

I had a good (albeit drunken) chat with a couple of homeless lads earlier in the year, gave them a few quid and I was leaving they said "safe home".

Without thinking I just said "same to you" and walked off, haven't forgiven myself since.

My mate did something similar but at the same time far more sinister one night while drunk. We were driving along and he was in the passenger seat and decided to ask a homeless guy "where the party was? all back to your house yeah??" The homeless guys face just dropped. I felt kinda bad, although we still laughed about it

Thrill

The Scientist wrote:

No, i'm thinking the same. Vagrants... who cares?

Thats pretty cold hearted. Not all of them are on the streets of their own free will. I know of one guy who went to the streets because of the abuse he got at home. Violent abuse that is.
Two of my brothers stayed with him for a while and even slept out in the cold in Fitzgerald park (cork) to keep him company.
They said it was a horrible experience but they feared for their friend.
I must find out what happened to him as this was about three years ago.

The Scientist wrote:

I gave a vagrant a pound coin years ago and hours later i seen the same dude twisted on a city bus shouting abuse. That was the last time i gave donations to vagrancy as a whole.

A pound coin is more than a lot of people would give them but if you think that he ended up in the state he was in a few hours later because of you then think again.
You have no idea what made him end up on the streets and what he must have gone through to make him the way he is. They don't all end up homeless because of drink. Sometimes its the opposite way around. They turn to drink while they are homeless.
My mother worked at Simon and she said that the majority of them are incredibly nice people. Life for them just took a horrible turn for many different reasons. The death of a loved one, divorce, not being allowed to see your own kids, which must be devastating for any parent, abuse of all kinds etc.
Some people can overcome these ordeals and carry on with their lives but others just break, can see no way out of their plight, and end up in different situations. Some end up in mental institutions, others take their own lives and others end up on the streets.Drink for some becomes a last resort because the underlying cause of their homelessness has not been taken care of in time.
As for being twisted and shouting at people. You'll see that most nights during the weekend in just about every city in Ireland and not just by homeless people either.

You don't have to give money directly to a homeless person. Give it to the Simon community.
Just don't turn your back on them over one bad experience.

MrJoeSoap

Well said Thrill.

Heisenberg.

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L5

markk06 wrote:

My mate did something similar but at the same time far more sinister one night while drunk. We were driving along and he was in the passenger seat and decided to ask a homeless guy "where the party was? all back to your house yeah??" The homeless guys face just dropped. I felt kinda bad, although we still laughed about it

Yourself and your mate are complete cúnts in all fairness

Beastieboy

The_Minister wrote:

This is the trainee economist in me talking, but you do realise that if you give them food, and other people give them money, then they will spend less of that money on food, and more on alcohol, as they need to buy less food. So in effect, by giving them food, you are raising the amount of alcohol that they can buy.

Yes they can buy more alcohol, thats not to say that will buy any in the first place. As I understand it at least some homeless shelters aren't free and you have to pay a small amount to get in for the night. And i'm sure homeless people buy other things than food and alcohol.

melekalikimaka

markk06 wrote:

My mate did something similar but at the same time far more sinister one night while drunk. We were driving along and he was in the passenger seat and decided to ask a homeless guy "where the party was? all back to your house yeah??" The homeless guys face just dropped. I felt kinda bad, although we still laughed about it

hangs head in shame

Am a bit circumspect about giving money because of the old 'they'll only spend it on drink' thing, though I often do - heck it's not as if people with mansions are all clean and sober. Once gave one my jacket during a cold night. I'd say they thought I was insane. Apart from the warm feeling you get from randon acts of kindness, if you're out with a woman, a stunt like that is a deal clincher...

greine

markk06 wrote:

My mate did something similar but at the same time far more sinister one night while drunk. We were driving along and he was in the passenger seat and decided to ask a homeless guy "where the party was? all back to your house yeah??" The homeless guys face just dropped. I felt kinda bad, although we still laughed about it

Don't think that's the same thing, think it's just mean, you must be feeling very smug in your comfy home, hope it lasts!:mad:

melekalikimaka

greine wrote:

Don't think that's the same thing, think it's just mean, you must be feeling very smug in your comfy home, hope it lasts!:mad:

probably does in all fairness...it is winter

Kingsize

Theres probably more people begging on the streets of Dublin than there are in London, I Think the good old British cops are a bit more willing to move beggars on than the Gardai are so i reckon it's an easier "job" Here.
I once spent a hungover afternoon in central London on my way home from the Reading festival looking for a homeless person to give all my excess booze to & to no avail.
I also know that a lot of the beggars in Dublin are not strictly "homeless" - they may have a shi-tty life & dreadful accomodation but they aren't homeless,many of them are in receipt of social welfare benefits & there are plenty of people in the same situation who dont resort to begging.
I feel sorry for genuinely homeless people but I have no time for these junkie fukkers begging at the ATMs trying to guilt me out because I work for a living .

Black Swan

Where are the homeless? Come to LA. There's plenty to spare in this so called land with streets paved with gold.

Mr. CooL ICE

Or go to Hamburg. The city is filled with homeless punks. They beg for money to buy food, yet can still afford to dye their hair numerous colours