What would become of the Civic Offices on Wood Quay if the council relocates?
After The Currency reported the idea of the council moving its HQ, councillors were talking about and thinking through the pros and cons and implications.
But they’re also pushing back against those begging to access it, asking if there’s anywhere else they can go instead.
Several have been sleeping down a laneway near the International Protection Office on Mount Street Lower.
Charities have also been raising the need for drug-free beds, shows correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act.
There are waiting lists, and an increase in the number of people seeking legal assistance because they were refused emergency accommodation, say charities.
In an unfamiliar city, it seemed like a place Aysar Hamad could find protection. The Department of Justice says he was blocking the entrance.
“They have got to use the social housing that is currently available to get people out of homelessness, otherwise we are banjaxed.”
In Dublin, private inspectors have been brought in. An expert group has ruled out asking the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to do it instead.
The Health Research Board is doing some, but only for 2019. That’s before the spikes in more recent years.
There are other kinds of hostels or rooms for families, but those living there say they don’t get the same supports.
Louisa Santoro, CEO of the Mendicity Institution, says that recently the homelessness situation is as bad as she has ever seen it. “It’s a disaster.”
Ten have been stuck there for a decade or more, and two for 15 years, according to statistics released by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive.
These were among the issues that Dublin city councillors discussed at a meeting of their Central Area Committee on Tuesday.