Mystery mattress squatter living in underground carpark.

Baraics Pollox

Right so, I live in an apartment block in a ropey part of the inner city. The sort of place where cotton Ellesse tracksuits are still the uniform of choice and breakfast consists of a packet of Banshee Bones washed down with a bottle of Boost.

I decided to take the bins down to the basement which also doubles as an underground carpark. I got to the bottom of the stairwell and noticed that the bulb from the wall light was missing. I thought this a bit strange.

I proceeded in a doorway to where the door of the lift (had I been so inclined) would have left me. This room is sandwiched between the stairwell and the carpark. I noticed that the bulb in this room was also gone, so it was fairly dark (being underground), the only light in it was coming from the carpark itself.

From the corner of my eye, in a the darkest corner of this little room was a mattress, possibly stained, with a big duvet rolled up on it. I didn't hang around so I promptly kept going through the next door and into the carpark to dump my bins.

Then I realised I had to go back the way I came. So I came to the door of the darkened room (which is usually fob activated to open) and lo and behold I was able to open it without a fob. I had a quick glance at the mattress/duvet before pegging back up the stairs.

So, what do ye think? Junkie? Homeless person? Mattress Mick?

Kinda creepy as fcuk down there to be honest. Dead quiet and dark. Grand place to have an aul kip in fairness...possibly place to end up shanked also.

TheLastMohican

No mortgage, no water charges and no bills!

Sounds like Utopia. Any more room there?

I've heard (from a good source) of a young guy living in a Dublin university for months, sleeping in buildings and everything. He was presentable enough to be taken for a student, but had serious psychiatric problems that eventually raised suspicions.

Dublin has more hidden homeless people than you'll see simply by walking from Parnell Square to Stephen's Green. They sleep in squats, on stairwells like yours, in gated parks, even in A&E. The old guys who sleep this way might be too (de?)institutionalised or too afraid to use shelters, and the younger guys are usually too afraid because they're timid, or because they are in trouble.

If this guy is hiding in such a secluded way, he's clearly trying to avoid people, If I were you I wouldn't worry, nor worry him. Obviously it's still as creepy as fook to come across it.

If you're not comfortable with him sleeping there, ring the Salvation Army and ask them to send someone out, explaining that you'll call the Guards as a next resort. Because the Homeless Persons Unit in the Council will be able (or willing) to do nothing, and the Gardai will only ring the HPU who will tell them the same thing.

Youngblood.III

Safest opinion is to report it to building management....but be careful down there...could be needles etc.

NachoBusiness

Let them be.

corner of hells

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I've heard (from a good source) of a young guy living in a Dublin university for months, sleeping in buildings and everything. He was presentable enough to be taken for a student, but had serious psychiatric problems that eventually raised suspicions.

Dublin has more hidden homeless people than you'll see simply by walking from Parnell Square to Stephen's Green. They sleep in squats, on stairwells like yours, in gated parks, even in A&E. The old guys who sleep this way might be too (de?)institutionalised or too afraid to use shelters, and the younger guys are usually too afraid because they're timid, or because they are in trouble.

If this guy is hiding in such a secluded way, he's clearly trying to avoid people, If I were you I wouldn't worry, nor worry him. Obviously it's still as creepy as fook to come across it.

If you're not comfortable with him sleeping there, ring the Salvation Army and ask them to send someone out, explaining that you'll call the Guards as a next resort. Because the Homeless Persons Unit in the Council will be able (or willing) to do nothing, and the Gardai will only ring the HPU who will tell them the same thing.

The Homeless Persons Unit has nothing directly to do with council.Its concern is primarily the welfare payment of the individual.It opens between the hours of 10am and 12am mon to fri.

A better choice would be to call either Simon or Focus outreach teams who may encourage a call to the Freephone.Theres a good chance an outreach worker will know him already.Its unlikely the Salvation Army will come out.

The Gardai would probably do the same and ask the individual to move on.

If he's registered as homeless in Parkgate street he will probably know this.

corner of hells

corner of hells wrote: »

The Homeless Persons Unit has nothing directly to do with council.Its concern is primarily the welfare payment of the individual

Apologies I meant CPS not HPU. Either way,my point was they don't do call-outs so there's no point ringing them.

The Salvation Army is the most hands-on of the charities in my experience, and they do operate with less formal structures than the likes of Crosscare or Focus. That's why I suggested them.

corner of hells

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Apologies I meant CPS not HPU. Either way,my point was they don't do call-outs so there's no point ringing them.

The Salvation Army is the most hands-on of the charities in my experience, and they do operate with less formal structures than the likes of Crosscare or Focus. That's why I suggested them.

Focus are much more hands on , Salvation tend to have hostels.. Granby, York house and a few more.
I'm not being smart with you , but I work in homeless services.

cajonlardo

Baraics Pollox wrote: »

..possibly place to end up shanked also.

I once had an absolute **ite job.
Part of it involved going into Stephen's green several times at night and several other dodgy places. I'd have come across a lot of homeless people but never had a dangerous interaction with any of them. Well heeled dippy feckers were more of a problem.

corner of hells

corner of hells wrote: »

Focus are much more hands on , Salvation tend to have hostels.. Granby, York house and a few more.

But I'm not talking about the hostels... the S.A. have a whole volunteer backup corps that work in conjunction with and in addition to the hostels. In my experience there's no comparable service in Dublin; in fact, you couldn't run a service like it if you had to pay your workers, because you'd go broke.

Lets put it this way, the SA volunteers are zealous, the other charities run better-organized service, which are more strictly delineated. Even though Cedar House, Trust and Focus will talk to anyone, you can't just call them up and ask them to come and look at a homeless person in your carpark. They can't spread themselves that thinly.

If this homeless man wants to engage with even those 'entry-level' services like that, he'll already have been told about them, and will have to engage on his own initiative.

Whereas the Salvation Army corps is more equipped to intervene in situations like this, in my opinion. Or at least, if anyone can intervene, they probably can. The other charities will say, 'tell him to call in during our opening hours'. But if he's had any interaction with anyone in the homeless services, he'll already know about them... something else is the matter.

I'm not trying to say one is better or worse; if anything, the fragmentation of homeless services in Dublin, and the consequent competition for resources makes so sense.

Hammer89

Irish people tend to have an irrational fear of homeless people, and junkies.

Few years ago myself and a mate were walking in town, broad daylight, and we see a couple of junkie sorts - a man and woman - sitting on a wall.

The woman was face down, as if she was trying to lick herself out, while the bloke didn't look like he knew the year. He also didn't know the time: "Have you got the time mate?" It wasn't as coherent as this but you get the point. I'm not a wanker, so I tell him, but my mate, who is about 50 yards ahead of me at this point, gets a little upset: "Don't engage them!" as if we just walked past a couple of bengal tigers.

Guy:Incognito

Hammer89 wrote: »

Irish people tend to have an irrational fear of homeless people, and junkies.

Few years ago myself and a mate were walking in town, broad daylight, and we see a couple of junkie sorts - a man and woman - sitting on a wall.

The woman was face down, as if she was trying to lick herself out, while the bloke didn't look like he knew the year. He also didn't know the time: "Have you got the time mate?" It wasn't as coherent as this but you get the point. I'm not a wanker, so I tell him, but my mate, who is about 50 yards ahead of me at this point, gets a little upset: "Don't engage them!" as if we just walked past a couple of bengal tigers.

I wouldn't engage with two people in full business attire in that situation tbh.

corner of hells

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

But I'm not talking about the hostels... the S.A. have a whole volunteer backup corps that work in conjunction with and in addition to the hostels. In my experience there's no comparable service in Dublin; in fact, you couldn't run a service like it if you had to pay your workers, because you'd go broke.

Lets put it this way, the SA volunteers are zealous, the other charities run better-organized service, which are more strictly delineated. Even though Cedar House, Trust and Focus will talk to anyone, you can't just call them up and ask them to come and look at a homeless person in your carpark. They can't spread themselves that thinly.

If this homeless man wants to engage with even those 'entry-level' services like that, he'll already have been told about them, and will have to engage on his own initiative.

Whereas the Salvation Army corps is more equipped to intervene in situations like this, in my opinion. Or at least, if anyone can intervene, they probably can. The other charities will say, 'tell him to call in during our opening hours'. But if he's had any interaction with anyone in the homeless services, he'll already know about them... something else is the matter.

I'm not trying to say one is better or worse; if anything, the fragmentation of homeless services in Dublin, and the consequent competition for resources makes so sense.

I understand that you're not saying one is better than the other , if anything I'm interested in what you're saying about the SA , from my experience with them they're are good solid service provider , I know some of their staff and been in some of their facilities over the years.

I'm interested in you mentioning Cedar , which is a Crosscare service which in itself provides about a thousand volunteers across a multitude of fields.Again I not aware of SA outreach teams for homeless but Ive worked outreach myself and know in that mans situation there are Simon and Focus staff out every night.

I'm not so sure about fragmentation of homeless services either , if anything theres now much better interservice and interagency than ever , examples that spring to mind would be Housing First , MQI/Focus EDS and the Crosscare foodbank provision to other services.

Doolittle51

The missing light bulbs are the key to this whole mystery. He must have removed them in order to create a short circuit which would have tripped the circuit breaker. The door which usually requires fob access is on the same circuit as the lights, so this stopped working, allowing him to gain entry to his new house!

Solution: Reset the circuit breaker. (Actually just contact the management company and they should deal with this whole thing asap)

Pyr0

Doolittle51 wrote: »

The missing light bulbs are the key to this whole mystery. He must have removed them in order to create a short circuit which would have tripped the circuit breaker. The door which usually requires fob access is on the same circuit as the lights, so this stopped working, allowing him to gain entry to his new house!

Solution: Reset the circuit breaker. (Actually just contact the management company and they should deal with this whole thing asap)

Crafty, i'll give him that!

donegal.

next time you cook dinner, bring him down a plate.