Homeless and begging

Love_the_Void

I've had a few experiences recently of homeless people asking me for money on the street. I've noticed a lot of people just walk past this and don't bat an eyelid, and I find this very hard to do without feeling terrible

I'd love to hear from people working in homeless services ... do these people often need the money from begging for living (food and basics)?

I think homeless people are entitled to social welfare using a homeless hostel as their address? Are most aware of this?

Do they have to pay for hostels? or are they free?

How often does it happen that hostels are full and people turned away?

Are hostels better than the street in reality?
What other supports are available to homeless people to get back on their feet?...and what in your opinion is the biggest barrier to this?

As I said, informed opinions appreciated, thanks

Bullseye1

The problem that has occurred over the years is the introduction of "professional" beggers who make a living from this. This along with many of the people working with homeless advising the public not to give money as in many cases it is to feed a habit. You would be better off buying the person a sandwich and cup of tea at least then you know if they are genuine or not.

ElleEm

Love_the_Void wrote: »

I've had a few experiences recently of homeless people asking me for money on the street. I've noticed a lot of people just walk past this and don't bat an eyelid, and I find this very hard to do without feeling terrible

I'd love to hear from people working in homeless services ... do these people often need the money from begging for living (food and basics)?

I think homeless people are entitled to social welfare using a homeless hostel as their address? Are most aware of this?

Anyone who is homeless and linked into a service will be able to claim social welfare. They will have professionals who can help them obtain this too, attending meetings, filling out forms etc. They can link themselves in with a service by self referral or they may be approached on the streets by any of the homeless outreach services.

They may spend all of this money on drink or drugs to may have to subsidise their living expenses with begging.

Love_the_Void wrote: »

Do they have to pay for hostels? or are they free?

How often does it happen that hostels are full and people turned away?

There can be a charge for homeless hostels, usually under €8 per night but most places aren't strict around it being paid every night. Sometimes regular hostel users can pay when they get their dole at the end of the week.

Love_the_Void wrote: »

Are hostels better than the street in reality?
What other supports are available to homeless people to get back on their feet?...and what in your opinion is the biggest barrier to this?

Homeless hostels are strict when it comes to behaviour. Any messing and a person can be excluded. There are often lockers at the entrance where all belongings, weapons, drug paraphanelia has to be kept. This minimises the "danger" aspect to them.

The new policies from the Homeless Agency means that there has been a shift in how homeless services work. The full needs of the service user are addressed so it's not as simple as finding them somewhere to stay and feckin off. There is a lot of multi service work, addressing ALL their needs (drug or alcohol misuse, criminal activity, mental health etc.).

Hope this makes things clearer for you.

http://www.homelessagency.ie/getdoc/f1f3f07f-0845-4011-be50-189ffae0cee4/Pathway-to-Home-model.aspx

http://www.dublincity.ie/Housing/Homeless/pages/ifyouarehomeless.aspx

Love_the_Void

Thanks for the information ElleEm and Bullseye1. Appreciated:)

irishh_bob

Love_the_Void wrote: »

I've had a few experiences recently of homeless people asking me for money on the street. I've noticed a lot of people just walk past this and don't bat an eyelid, and I find this very hard to do without feeling terrible

I'd love to hear from people working in homeless services ... do these people often need the money from begging for living (food and basics)?

I think homeless people are entitled to social welfare using a homeless hostel as their address? Are most aware of this?

Do they have to pay for hostels? or are they free?

How often does it happen that hostels are full and people turned away?

Are hostels better than the street in reality?
What other supports are available to homeless people to get back on their feet?...and what in your opinion is the biggest barrier to this?

As I said, informed opinions appreciated, thanks

i think homeless people should be entitled to social wellfare , if your penniless and without a roof over your head , your only option bar begging is suicide , surely the state can give theese people a better deal

Zombrex

Homeless people are entitled to social welfare. The problem is that social welfare won't buy you much heroin.

Ultimately, bar fringe exceptions, if someone is homeless and begging in Ireland they are looking to buy drug/drink addicts or have mental health issues (or probably both).

If anyone is feeling bad about passing a homeless person without giving money, don't. If you want to help give the money instead to a charity who provide things like food to homeless people. If you give it directly to the person in the vast majority of cases all you are doing is providing that person with money to by drugs.

irishh_bob

Zombrex wrote: »

Homeless people are entitled to social welfare. The problem is that social welfare won't buy you much heroin.

Ultimately, bar fringe exceptions, if someone is homeless and begging in Ireland they are looking to buy drug/drink addicts or have mental health issues (or probably both).

If anyone is feeling bad about passing a homeless person without giving money, don't. If you want to help give the money instead to a charity who provide things like food to homeless people. If you give it directly to the person in the vast majority of cases all you are doing is providing that person with money to by drugs.

on your point about mentally ill people , the reforms in mental health policy since 2001 has resulted in a large number of seriously mentally ill people becoming homeless , some of them ended up in prison but a large number ended up homeless , while the recieved wisdom as presented to us by our media is that keeping people in mental institutions is evil , the reality is their are some people who cannot manage in the real world , thier familys cant cope with them and a nice chat from social worker twice as month just doesnt cut it , im not talking about conventional depression btw

frag420

Sometimes I look at them and I find it hard to walk past. How do you decide who to give to. I cant give to them all and I cant give to just one as I feel bad for not including them all so I simply dont give. Its not a cop out. Sometimes if I have a little extra cash I will but them some food if tey look hungry but if they are drunk or whatever then I dont.

Also if a beggar has more expensive shoes than me and/or a mobile phone then they are not hungry. If hunger or a roof over their head was an issue then they could not afford either.

shangri la

Don't give them money.

If you want, offer to buy them tea and a sandwich.

There are organisations that cloth the people around dublin and hostels to sleep in and food provided in shelters and social welfare payments.

Bar mentally ill people who can't budget, if they are begging its not to buy food.

The more time you spend in Dublin you will realise besides the roma its a very small group of people who beg, they all have their areas and you will meet them many times a year to the point you know what they will say before they say it.

Beware of the girl on dorset street/oconnell street who goes around with a great story and a desperate look on her face while rubbing her heavily pregnant stomach. When I first moved to dublin i gave her E50 because I felt the way you do and I now see her at the same craic about 5 times a month.

I changed my attitude 2 weeks after moving here. Most are junkies and you wont be able to tell the difference much of the time.

War Machine 539

Anyone else notice a lot of these people have dogs now? Junkies mainly, noticed this a lot after the junkies rabbit got thrown in the liffey! That pisses me rightly off.

focus_mad

The way I see it, if I'm on a night out I could spend 100€ so what's a fiver to me?

Was out before Christmas near dame street with the other half and her mates and she was reduced to tears when she saw a homeless fella begging with a little jack Russell..

I'll admit it, she wanted me to grab the dog and bring it home with us... It took me a few seconds to realise she was serious!!!!!

shangri la

Did she not want to take the fella home too?

focus_mad

Nope... Sure I wasn't going to share her .

But in all seriousness I can see your point.

Beesand

Love_the_Void wrote: »

What other supports are available to homeless people to get back on their feet?...and what in your opinion is the biggest barrier to this?

I think the biggest barrier is medical treatment, counseling services, places in halfway houses etc.

I find it hard to walk by homeless people too, but I feel worse if I give to one person and not the other; so I decided to make an annual donation to Merchant's Quay Ireland instead.

jpharr

I often worry when I give money to people on the street... am I helping them or making their drug/drink problem worse??

RiseToTheTop

I was walking down Henry Street the other day and was continously hassled by a homeless fella just before Anne's. He had his blanket with him and wouldn't get out of my way despite me making my intentions clear.

I felt like pushing him out of the way but I hung on.

Zombrex

jpharr wrote: »

I often worry when I give money to people on the street... am I helping them or making their drug/drink problem worse??

The solution to that should be obvious, don't give them money.

the_syco

I'll say this in a nice way;

The best way to help fúck up their lives is to give them money.

No drinking in any homeless shelters except two homeless shelters in Dublin. During the summer less homeless want to goto a homeless hostel as they prefer to drink with their friends at night. There is a bus that they can ring a freephone number which will pick them up at various locations and put them into a homeless shelter. Someone want money for a hostel? Most likely a) a hostel that will either allow them to drink, or b) it's a ruse to make you feel like you "helped" them get a hostel for the night.

Although a lot of homeless people will be put in various shelters, they (council services, charities, etc) will try to put them into a more stable/long-term place, such as a place that can be their "home". Although it will be a homeless shelter, they will be staying in the same (one bed, or more bed depending on who is with them) room every night and after a while of this, the services in the past would try to get them into a job. Not sure what happens now with the degree of joblessness, but I'd hope they still have links somewhere. This is a VERY long process, but one that they work tirelessly on.

One thing, though, is that whilst staying at these stable shelters they cannot beg. AND THIS CAN BE HARD FOR THEM, as some of them can easily make a €100 a day begging which they'll spend mostly on drink.

Someone mentions "new runners". If they got money, and needed shoes, I'm sure they could go in and buy runners, but I'm also sure that they could source the runners from not-in-a-shop eg; from a charity, or maybe a "friend" who can get it for them.

Handsome Bob

Love_the_Void wrote: »

Do they have to pay for hostels? or are they free?

How often does it happen that hostels are full and people turned away?

Of the hostels I know of, people have to pay to get into them and yeah, hostels are always full and people are turned away.

zero_hope

I have zero sympathy for addicts and deadbeats. In fact I laugh at their fate.

Emme

An American friend said that where she comes from, you can buy vouchers from McDonalds etc. to give to homeless people so they can go in and get something to eat. If you could do the same here and also get vouchers from the Salvation Army so a homeless person can stay in a hostel for the night you would know that your assistance would definitely go towards feeding or giving a homeless person a bed for the night.

Jimmyhologram

I'm always heartened to see people stop and talk to the homeless. Perhaps that's the best that you can do for them. It's very difficult to do though. Everything about the encounter is weird and somehow false, unless you're good at it. I've grown quite pessimistic about the chances that homeless people might have of sorting themselves out, because of all of the barriers and stigma. Though if anyone has data on this, I'd love to be proven wrong.