Homelessness in waterford

I was in Waterford last week and was shocked by the number of homeless people. Some wrapped in sleeping bags seemingly 'living' in doorways and in other places sleeping bags etc left apparently awaiting the return of the owner. It seems very visible in Waterford

One or two begging without seeming like they re 'living' in the begging spot. Are these beggars genuine?. in other places it is said they are organised,I am not saying this is true of waterford.

Yellow_Fern

Last one I saw was not genuine in the scam sense. That been said all rough sleeping isnt genuine though. It is 100% a behavioural issue, due to addiction or mental illness etc, not a housing issue.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118748390#Comment_118748390

...some folks would seriously want to have a good look inwards, before posting, we re currently experiencing a catastrophic failure of our accommodation markets, along side other major catastrophic failures within our health system, welfare systems, and even the legal system. its astonishingly ignorant to try simplify these social issues, by not being willing or able to help provide these critical needs such as those mentioned above, we re now starting to see the fall out, i.e. a dramatic increase in complex social problems, again, some mentioned, i.e. addiction and mental health issues etc etc. by not doing what needs to be done, in particular, providing secure accommodation to our citizens, we ve now opened Pandora's box, shame on us! an attempt to ridicule and shame these individuals is just pure ignorance at this stage!

dzilla

Not referring to people looking for money on the street now referring to the people sleeping rough, I never really remember people sleeping in shop doorways until recent months in Waterford.

Always thought this was Dublin / Cork issue, shocked/saddened to see it here in Waterford.

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749829#Comment_118749829

Sure. It is a global problem and Ireland is not isolated.

Then again what else would you expect when we are ruled by landlords? Year after year rents go up and people barely keep up.

On the other hand there will always be people who value other things more than keeping roof over their head. Sad but true. There is no easy solution to this.

zell12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118748390#Comment_118748390

That's not true. All the State is required to do is to register you as homeless and even that is difficult. They don't have to give you a bed, sleeping bag. etc, and services are fostered out to charities.

It's mainly a symptom of our housing crisis. There literally is nowhere to go. And it's going to get significantly worse before it gets better.

Quigs Snr

Homelessness in Waterford and begging in Waterford are two different issues. Granted, often interconnected issues, but not nearly as interconnected as the little cardboard signs would have you believe.

Truly homeless people are being done a disservice by the junkies with homes or at least some sort of accommodation that is not a shelter (I can't tell you if this is a minority or majority, but I know for certain that it is not anywhere close to zero) and the other groups, who leave their homes to come into the town in the morning together and take up pre-arranged positions. This latter group are the professional beggars. You will notice that they are quite well groomed, well dressed and are - for lack of a better term - quite professional in how they go about their business etc.. trying to make eye contact, talk to you, be friendly etc. They are good at picking their mark too. I was watching them the other day taking note of who they tried to engage with vs who they did not. They knew their stuff. Good luck to them.

There is a default assumption now by a lot of people that ALL beggars that claim to be homeless are addicts who are just going to shoot it up their arms, or organised gangs of chancers. And homeless or otherwise there are certainly plenty of representatives of both groups around. I think that makes the plight of the genuinely homeless (Addict or otherwise) even sadder because they are tarred with the same brush as the chancers (many of whom admittedly have their own issues).

The Garda know who the chancers are in most cases. I wish they would do more to turf them out. And I wish our government would do more to make the notion of accommodation shortages a particularly absurd one. Realistically of the various social ills out there, accommodation you would think is one that is actually solvable and possible to measure the progress of. You would think that even at a local government level that if someone was suitably motivated, they could take one look at it.. homeless ? In 2022 in a city like Waterford ? Not on my watch buddy. And do something about it.

It's not the responsibility of local or governmental services to provide spontanious housing for foreign 'visitors' to our country!

Round them all up & f**k them all out!

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118750800#Comment_118750800

The state is legally bound to house people. Whether or not that means right away or for every night is debatable but there is a legal right there. I don't think it is caused by the Housing crisis. Rough sleepers numbers are relatively stable and they were always here. It isn't a new thing.

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118749829#Comment_118749829

You couldn't be more wrong. You are conflating the large number of homeless, with the tiny number of rough sleepers. The large numbers of homeless don't sleep on the street. These people, who are victims of the housing crisis, have nothing to do with the addicts and scammers on the street. The situation with housing is unique. Our welfare and health systems have never ever been as generous and as effective in providing assistance. All the health stats will show you that we have an extremely high performance health system. Welfare is also excellent. It is flat out wrong to claim that these sectors are in crisis. Calling addicts and scammers such is not shaming. It is just describing causation.

ExoPolitic

There are lots of problems in Waterford regarding fake homeless.

People on the streets begging - who go back to their homes in the evening, seemed to be either people who couldn't get work visas or people with addiction problems.

In the shelters there are career homeless who will not leave the shelter for a home;

Reasons such as they are used to/need to be be looked after there.

Housing generally is too expensive to get in to in the first place compounded by not having the foresight to save cash.

All blocking spaces for those genuinely in need.

Really those people need supported living arrangements in a complex, but it is not available. My source - being homeless for 3 months whilst I got my ducks all back in line, saved cash, worked my ass off and got the cheapest place I could find... just about.

E38E3E38E3EE33

Waterford Council said there's been a 'substantial reduction in rough sleepers in Waterford over the past 2 years' and the 'Cold Weather Initiative' wasn’t required.

"We are aware of a group of Eastern European people begging in Waterford at present, with whom our Outreach team have been in contact, and can confirm that these people are not seeking homeless services."

friendlyfun

Organised begging has gotten even worse since they made that statement. I counted at least 8 of them meeting up outside Footlocker one morning. Two of them are sent out to Tesco Ardkeen. One of them begs near the atm which is illegal.

hardybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118869062#Comment_118869062

Interesting to hear Councillors in Clare calling for a Garda investigation into organised begging in Ennis.

Talk of mini buses bringing people into town every day and collecting them in the evening. You'd hope some of those involved haven't been caught up in human trafficking or forced labour to pay for their passage to Ireland.

Either way this should be treated more seriously by the authorities.