Senator Lynn Ruane Deeply Concerned By Proposed Hostel Closure

Senator Lynn Ruane Deeply Concerned By Proposed Hostel Closure

18th May 2016

Leinster House

Senator Lynn Ruane joined a group of medical professionals and community workers on Monday night to survey the residents of Brú Aimsir Hostel on Dublin’s Thomas Street. The survey was aimed at evaluating the accommodation and healthcare services received by the hostel’s residents and the expected consequences on these residents of the hostel’s proposed closure. The results of the North Dublin City GP Training Programme survey reveal a hostel and clinic service that is operating to a very high standard and starkly illustrates the expected devastating impact of the hostel’s proposed closure on it’s current residents.  

“Dublin City Council should be applauded for opening Brú Hostel last November as part of its Cold Weather Initiative. However, the improving weather as we approach the summer months does not mitigate the urgent demand of the hostel’s current residents for accommodation. Sleeping rough should never be tolerated, no matter the time of year,” said Senator Lynn Ruane.

“The results of this survey show that Brú Hostel currently provides high quality accommodation and healthcare service to its residents. The impending closure of these services will force more vulnerable people onto the streets in the midst of an already extreme homelessness crisis and leave them without valuable and regular healthcare. This is completely unacceptable and must be prevented at all costs,” said Ruane.

Survey Results

Thirty-four of the forty-two current residents of the hostel were surveyed.

The headline results are as follows:

• –       77% of respondents reported being long-term residents of the hostel (more than 20 nights spent in Brú Aimsir since last December).
• –       Over 70% of those surveyed said that Brú hostel was much better than other homeless accommodation they had stayed in.
• –       When asked to rate the hostel on a scale of 1-10 in terms of cleanliness, safety, food quality, welcoming atmosphere, staff and assistance provided, 87% of responses were in the 8-10 range, illustrating the high satisfaction with the hostel’s services across the six surveyed criteria.
• –       65% of residents reported having used the health service available at the hostel with almost 80% of residents saying they were very satisfied with the service they received.
• –       84% of those surveyed said that they had been forced to sleep rough in the past.
• –       77% of respondents said that if the hostel closed, they either didn’t know where they would sleep or that they would be forced to sleep rough.

“I’ve been homeless all my life and I’ve before never felt so welcome,” said a Brú Aimsir resident when responding to the survey. 

Background

A total of 1,073 individuals have stayed at Brú Aimsir since it first opened in November. It is important to note that the hostel does not simply provide shelter at night and healthcare. Crosscare staff and a range of other homeless sector organisations have been working intensively with people to move them into more stable accommodation. To date, over 200 of the Brú guests have been provided with more stable accommodation options.

Dublin City Council opened Brú Hostel as part of its Cold Weather Initiative in November of last year. Crosscare manage the service and Safetynet organisations provide the health services. The hostel is housed in a building owned by Digital Hub, an initiative managed by Digital Hub Development Agency, an Irish state agency set up in 2003. Dublin City Council leased the premises in November in order to open the hostel during the winter months and the building was expected to be put up for sale upon the conclusion of the lease.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin recently indicated that the planned closure will be put on hold until satisfactory alternative accommodation is secured for the remaining 42 residents. Negotiations are on-going to determine if the service will reopen to full capacity.

Senator Lynn Ruane fully supports homeless people and the homeless sector organizations calling for the facility to reopen to full capacity.