Do you know anyone who's homeless?

freshpopcorn

Apart from hearing about people being homeless mainly in Dublin. I don't know anybody who is homeless or have ever really known anybody who's being homeless apart from the odd person who's might have had a falling out at home for a few nights.

wokingvoter

I don't know anyone who's homeless through no fault of their own.

I have known three men who have been homeless at one point. Living in homeless shelters or sometimes sleeping rough. All three would have been from disadvantaged backgrounds and have their own issues with learning disabilities or emotional problems. Glad to say they're all in stable accommodation now, though have been for some time, would probably not be high on any list if their situation was to change again for the worse now.

Edited to add: none of the three had addiction problems.

homerjay2005

homeless for me is somebody who is living on the streets.

i dont think somebody living in a hotel should be classed as homeless, as there is a huge difference.

HalloweenJack

I have a friend who slept rough a few times.

It was just a desperate situation he was in at that point in time. He couldn't stay with family or friends and didn't have money for anything else. I was shocked when he told me because it all happened so quickly. From what he told me, it was a horrible experience. Thankfully, he got back on his feet and he's doing well.

MilesMorales1

I was homeless myself when I was younger, teenager, for a few months at a time. Awful home circumstances, and its ****ing awful. Huge respect to the charities that did great work for me (and still do now) with food and toiletries and doing some washing for me and all sorts, great work it was.

FTA69

I've been technically homeless for a very short space of time and it's an awful position to be in. I had just moved over to London and was working for a builder/publican who is a notorious arsehole and I was living above his pub as well as working for him. The hours he had promised me never materialised and we ended up falling out with me having nowhere to go and having nothing but two hold all bags to my name and no clue about what I was going to do.

I was in another pub I used to live in and thanks be to God the owner let me have a room and said he didn't want rent until I found a job, I had to share the flat with a filthy alcoholic who chain smoked rollies and nearly burned us alive several times but it was better than ringing home and ending up back in Ireland in failure.

Being faced without a roof over your head is an utterly terrifying prospect I wouldn't wish on anyone.

StewartGriffin

Yes. My three kids. They're staying with me at the moment.


I'm trying to get them on the homeless list so they might get a free gaff of their own, theres a long waiting list but I figure since they are 4, 7 and 9 now they should be front of the line by the time they are 16. Any house offered must be next door to us of course.

Maximus Alexander

I've twice been in a position where I might have been homeless if I had been a bit less fortunate. Once when I was 20 and still living at home. My mother, who had problems with the drink threw me out of her house one night when she took one of her turns. Thankfully my sister had a bed for me and I was able to stay there for a few weeks while I made other arrangements.

The other time I was in Australia we had rented a house. We had enough money to cover the next month's rent, but were broke otherwise. Most accommodation required a deposit and at least a month's rent up front, so when our landlord threw us out on the street on Christmas Eve because there were bedbugs in the place and she decided it needed to be fumigated immediately, we had nowhere to go. Fortunately, we were able to borrow money from family and we just flew home to Ireland.

In neither case was I genuinely at risk of finding myself on the streets, because I have the support network of a 'middle class' family. But nevertheless the terror of that moment when you realise you've nowhere to sleep that night gave me a window into what life must be like for some people. It's so easy to say "nobody ends up on the streets without it being their fault," but it ignores the complexities of society, circumstance and the unpredictability of life in general. I feel sorry for anyone who ends up on the streets, no matter what chain of events led them there.

I find it disheartening how easy it is for people to believe that everything they have, they earned, while being blind to the various legs-up they were given along the way by variables far outside of their control.

esforum

StewartGriffin wrote: »

Yes. My three kids. They're staying with me at the moment.

Believe it or not, some charities do indeed count them as homeless.

homerjay2005 wrote: »

homeless for me is somebody who is living on the streets.

i dont think somebody living in a hotel should be classed as homeless, as there is a huge difference.

That would mean more or less no one is homeless as they will be offered a bed somewhere at some point but it will be temporary and literally a bed for a night. Hardly neighbours with the late John Lennon,

I have known many homeless but I have only been friends / close to two persons and neither remain homeless now. One was a mate who ended up homeless after emmigrating, we ended up chipping in to get him home as he was too embarassed to ask his parents. back on his feet after moving to another EU country now.

My cousin as well was homeless for a year but she had turned her back on family. We still wouldnt be on good terms. UNbelievable, she ended up homeless after starting to do charity work with the homeless, fell in love with a homeless chap and spiralled down. we always found it so bizaare that she left her job and apartment instead of him moving in and getting back into the system. She later saw sense but afaik he remains homeless.

A lot of homeless really only have themselves to blame but theres still the majority that have hit rock bottom and need help.

222233

I don't know of nor have ever known anyone who is homeless, then again my definition of homeless is someone who is out on the streets

YerMasYerDa

Yes. Big problem with it atm in Belfast. Utterly heartbreaking thing about it is they're sound as. I've seen homeless guys get woken up and checked for drugs by the PSNI and nothing being found.

I have been given money for the bus by homeless people, given menthol cigs for free by homeless people and given 2 for the bus when I was blocked by homeless people. They have my respect big time. All addicts/born into terrible situations I could easily have been.

MilesMorales1

There's nothing worse or more humiliating than not having a bed to sleep in or a roof over your head, nowhere to eat or wash your clothes or have a shower. Its ****ing soul destroying.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

I know one guy who's effectively been couchsurfing around northern Europe for about four or five years now - not sure if that counts are not?

YerMasYerDa

I've forgiven homeless people for being the closest to have ever killed me in my life (found non-responsive in Belfast city centre after being given a smoke of herbal, ended up in the Royal hospital for 2 days)... So I have no idea why others would hate them as much as they do.

But they do give Dublin a bad name since it's always them that is giving out the herbal themselves up here.

A bit like the Roma give Romanians a bad name I guess.

Maximus Alexander

YerMasYerDa wrote: »

A bit like the Roma give Romanians a bad name I guess.

ﺟ_ﺟ

Not sure if serious.

InReality

YerMasYerDa wrote: »

I've forgiven homeless people for being the closest to have ever killed me in my life (found non-responsive in Belfast city centre after being given a smoke of herbal, ended up in the Royal hospital for 2 days)... So I have no idea why others would hate them as much as they do.

But they do give Dublin a bad name since it's always them that is giving out the herbal themselves up here.

A bit like the Roma give Romanians a bad name I guess.

what ?

esforum

InReality wrote: »

what ?

Apparantly Dublin has a bad name because its a well established fact that its the Dublin homeless travelling around dishing out what I assume is hash. Potent hash it would seem

At least thats what I think he is saying.

Oh and everyone hates Romanians because of Romas. I give him credit for knowing the word Roma

pragmatic1

YerMasYerDa wrote: »

Yes. Big problem with it atm in Belfast. Utterly heartbreaking thing about it is they're sound as. I've seen homeless guys get woken up and checked for drugs by the PSNI and nothing being found.

I have been given money for the bus by homeless people, given menthol cigs for free by homeless people and given 2 for the bus when I was blocked by homeless people. They have my respect big time. All addicts/born into terrible situations I could easily have been.

Yeah only noticed homeless people in Belfast recently.Is it more a recent issue because I never seen homeless people in the city centre up until the last few years.

Horrible position for anyone to be in. The right to a roof over your head really should be a basic right.

pragmatic1

esforum wrote: »

Apparantly Dublin has a bad name because its a well established fact that its the Dublin homeless travelling around dishing out what I assume is hash. Potent hash it would seem

At least thats what I think he is saying.

Oh and everyone hates Romanians because of Romas. I give him credit for knowing the word Roma

I think he's on about the synthetic cannabis, which is apparently popular amongst homeless folk. Horrible stuff.

esforum

pragmatic1 wrote: »

I think he's on about the synthetic cannabis, which is apparently popular amongst homeless folk. Horrible stuff.

Im not up on my drug names it would seem :P

MilesMorales1

The worst part about it (while we're on the topic) is it changes the way people look at you. If you've been sleeping rough in a public bathroom or an alleyway, you stink, your dirty, got no way of getting clean clothes or whatever, people avoid you in the street, most shops or fast food places won't let you in cos they think your there to rob the joint or cause trouble. To go back to that would be my worst nightmare.

Fellow I know is apparently sleeping rough in Dublin.

Fine fellow, hard worker, got married and had kids, then seemed to make up for his hard working 20s and 30s by breaking out in his 40s, getting into drugs. Nothing too hard, MDMA, ecstasy etc. Neighbours said he would be up all night banging out techno. Anyway, didn't really suit him, he started drinking around town and acting very strangely, marriage broke down and he went drinking harder.

arybvtcw0eolkf

One of my best friends died on the streets.

We served in Lebanon during a particularly tough tour. Towards the end of the mission he was showing signs of PTSD, but it was 1989 and PTSD recognition was in its infancy here in Ireland.

On his return his PTSD got really bad, he went heavy on the drink. Marriage breakdown soon followed, and 'Joe' died homeless & without help.

FTA69

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

The worst part about it (while we're on the topic) is it changes the way people look at you. If you've been sleeping rough in a public bathroom or an alleyway, you stink, your dirty, got no way of getting clean clothes or whatever, people avoid you in the street, most shops or fast food places won't let you in cos they think your there to rob the joint or cause trouble. To go back to that would be my worst nightmare.

You should do an Ask Me Anything mate, I think it'd be great to hear your perspective and perhaps people will learn something about the reality of homelessness as opposed to the preconceived notions they often have.

mvt

Kiana Lazy Barnyard wrote: »

One of my best friends died on the streets.

We served in Lebanon during a particularly tough tour. Towards the end of the mission he was showing signs of PTSD, but it was 1989 and PTSD recognition was in its infancy here in Ireland.

On his return his PTSD got really bad, he went heavy on the drink. Marriage breakdown soon followed, and 'Joe' died homeless & without help.

Thats a great photo & a kind testament to the real guy behind a sad story.

Turtyturd

I used to see a bloke we grew up with around town, he'd often be sitting on the ha'penny bridge with a cup looking for change, or just sprawled out, out of it. Growing up he was always very camp and used to get dogs abuse from kids about being a 'rent boy'.

Came across him through work a while back and it turned out he'd been abused as a child, witnessed a family member kill the person responsible, ended up on drugs, ended up in prostitution, and then ended up on the streets. He's been in and out of prison and on various programmes but always ends up back on the streets.

Thing is he has brothers who could take him in but have disowned him to preserve their 'hard man' image.

Mesrine65

Kiana Lazy Barnyard wrote: »

One of my best friends died on the streets.

We served in Lebanon during a particularly tough tour. Towards the end of the mission he was showing signs of PTSD, but it was 1989 and PTSD recognition was in its infancy here in Ireland.

On his return his PTSD got really bad, he went heavy on the drink. Marriage breakdown soon followed, and 'Joe' died homeless & without help.

A sadly familiar story with a lot of ex servicemen, not a lot of back up back then (or now it seems) for the silent victims, ended up using heroin myself for a couple of years to 'quiet the nightmares'.

Clean & semi-sane now 21 years & counting

RIP Joe

The flying mouse

I know quite a few that have ended up homeless, All them eventually did get some sort of shelter accommodation but they all dead now. I myself ended up in a caravan in a field with no facilities what so ever,water electricity,toilets etc Was there for two years,mad thinking back on it again now.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Mesrine65 wrote: »

A sadly familiar story with a lot of ex servicemen, not a lot of back up back then (or now it seems) for the silent victims, ended up using heroin myself for a couple of years to 'quiet the nightmares'.

Clean & semi-sane now 21 years & counting

RIP Joe

For sure, they're the silent casualties of war (for some the war never ends).

Well good to see you're off the gear now

BrayRep

A classmate from primary school. Haven't seen him in years so I'm not sure if he has passed on or got off the streets. It seems to be mostly drug/alcohol addicts and people with untreated mental problems that fall to the street. I guess maybe add in some financial casualties the last 5 years or so. For my ex classmate it was drugs.

catbear

a best friend got deep into drugs in college, he dropped out and no one heard about him for years until a friend from his college days found him lying strung out in a gutter on a Paris street.
He was brought back, rehabed but got involved in drugs again and had the absolute crap beaten out of him for a drug debt. Don't know where he is now, probably dead. His younger brother followed him into drugs but was brain dead after an overdose when he was 20. Both came from a lovely home, he never complained growing up there.
I see the parents every now and again and feel it could happen to any family.

BrayRep

Heroin, I presume, knows no class

FTA69

FTA69 wrote: »

but it was better than ringing home and ending up back in Ireland in failure.

This is the attitude that has left a lot of Irish people (men mostly) living terrible lives in London in particular, I don't get it at all. Nobody thinks those who come back are a failure, in fact family are glad when people come back.

Being homeless or living in a dive just not to move home is insanity imo.

biko

I knew a man that was homeless, mainly due to addiction to alcohol.
He died a couple years back, hopefully better off now.

BrayRep

Marissa Obedient Muzzle wrote: »

This is the attitude that has left a lot of Irish people living terrible lives in London in particular, I don't get it at all. Nobody thinks those who come back are a failure, in fact family are glad when people come back.

Being homeless or living in a dive just not to move home is insanity imo.

I guess there are many different recipes that make up someone dealing with that problem. If you are drinking a lot and underfed you are not going to be thinking straight. There would definitely be pride circling around in the mix though, for a lot of people.

The flying mouse

Not all but most people homeless people have some sort of addiction issues, Mine being alcohol,You get so caught up in your addiction that is the primary reason for you living, you eat drink think addiction and how to feed it.
When i was living in that caravan with no facilities whatsoever, I thought it was great, go out get drunk and fall back into a filthy place every day/night ,It was in Portugal where this happened so the cold was not a worry and i washed myself by diving into swimming pools of bars or friend houses, and thought nothing of it, wow its cringe worthy now, but back then all that mattered was my addiction and home family and everything think else came a wayback second.

MilesMorales1

FTA69 wrote: »

You should do an Ask Me Anything mate, I think it'd be great to hear your perspective and perhaps people will learn something about the reality of homelessness as opposed to the preconceived notions they often have.

Aye thats a good idea, I'll look into it.


I've heard of how often ex servicemen become homeless (I'm from the UK) and its shocking it is. The government doesn't look after them, either with housing or appropriate counselling and support or whatever for the horrific things you must be a party too in a war.

corner of hells

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Aye thats a good idea, I'll look into it.


I've heard of how often ex servicemen become homeless (I'm from the UK) and its shocking it is. The government doesn't look after them, either with housing or appropriate counselling and support or whatever for the horrific things you must be a party too in a war.

I work in homeless services and know a good few ex soldiers who are homeless now and a few former military work with me too.

Lot of Eastern European homeless former soldiers in Ireland .

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Aye thats a good idea, I'll look into it.


I've heard of how often ex servicemen become homeless (I'm from the UK) and its shocking it is. The government doesn't look after them, either with housing or appropriate counselling and support or whatever for the horrific things you must be a party too in a war.

If all the suicides and deaths from addiction of ex-servicemen in recent wars were counted among the casualties people would be shocked. Twenty odd US veterans kill themselves every day.

On topic, know one guy who was homeless for a while as a teenager. Bad situation at home, he was from a rough part of Waterford city and decided to just get the bus down to Galway because he preferred sleeping rough there to staying put. He's an event planner now, nice fellow.

MilesMorales1

Allie Green Turf wrote: »

If all the suicides and deaths from addiction of ex-servicemen in recent wars were counted among the casualties people would be shocked. Twenty odd US veterans kill themselves every day.

On topic, know one guy who was homeless for a while as a teenager. Bad situation at home, he was from a rough part of Waterford city and decided to just get the bus down to Galway because he preferred sleeping rough there to staying put. He's an event planner now, nice fellow.

Makes you sad it does. People put their lives on the line for their countries, and their repayment is to be forgotten about and abandoned, specially if the conflict they were involved in was unpopular.

catbear

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Makes you sad it does. People put their lives on the line for their countries, and their repayment is to be forgotten about and abandoned, specially if the conflict they were involved in was unpopular.

What's sadder is that laying your life on the line for your country might be the only route out the ghettos that your country allows to happen.

line console zero

wokingvoter wrote: »

I don't know anyone who's homeless through no fault of their own.

I do. The right circumstances and the lack of a family/friend support network and a few unfortunate events are all it takes.

LoonyLovegood

400 people in my college didn't have accomodation by November, most were couch surfing to try stay in college and find a place. I was doing that for about a month last summer, couldn't find a room for love nor money, so rotated between three friends places so that I could keep my job. It's the worst feeling in the world, leaving bags of belongings behind you in a place.

catbear

I've seen a different type of homelessness too. There is a man in Thurles who sleeps rough but he'd lost his wife and kids in a house fire and since then won't sleep indoors. He washes his face at a fountain on the square. I think some nuns give him his dinner everyday.

MilesMorales1

catbear wrote: »

What's sadder is that laying your life on the line for your country might be the only route out the ghettos that your country allows to happen.

Aye thats true as well.

Gremlinertia

Looking at the poll, i'm kind of surprised how many people don't know someone who is homeless.. Am i alone in this?.

Jawgap

I do a small bit of advocacy work that brings me into contact with families and people who are homeless and at risk of homelessness. The one abiding (and scary) thought I'm always left with is that we are all just one or two bad decisions away from being in that situation.

mvt

Jawgap wrote: »

I do a small bit of advocacy work that brings me into contact with families and people who are homeless and at risk of homelessness. The one abiding (and scary) thought I'm always left with is that we are all just one or two bad decisions away from being in that situation.

Sorry,don't believe this.
Whatever about single people if you've made the decision to have children you have roughly nine months to get from one or two bad decisions from being homeless.

MilesMorales1

mvt wrote: »

Sorry,don't believe this.
Whatever about single people if you've made the decision to have children you have roughly nine months to get from one or two bad decisions from being homeless.

What? All it takes is a couple of bad months and low cash to get from being in a perfectly stable situation to being out on the street, regardless of if you have kids or not.

I know a chap who is currently in a SVP emergency accomodation type set up but he's struggling to hold onto that.

He'd be late 20s, he used to live with his mother, grandmother & brother. His brother is a useless scumbag who is now a junkie, probably homeless too actually now that I think about it.

His mother passed away years ago, drink related iirc. Other relatives in an effort to protect his grandmother (her purse essentially) have made her house off limits to him.

The chap himself used to have a decent enough job but let it slip away as he was repeatedly late for work, than did security for a while but again had problems with attendance, punctuality etc etc. He has a bit of a gambling problem too which doesn't help.

Last time I spoke to him, about 6 weeks ago he mentioned he was going to try and get help with his gambling which might sort him out longterm.

Between the gambling, the few cans of an evening, the timekeeping and lack of support network he's not in a great place at all. Very nice, polite chap though.

I'd have a great deal of sympathy for him as I'm not a morning person so having to be at work at 8am or 8.30am or whatever wouldn't suit me either so I can certainly relate to how he lost his initial job.