Community centres should be used as a short term measure to accommodate the homeless instead of handing over thousands to private providers, a city councillor has urged.
Independent Councillor Mike Cubbard has written to Tom Connell, the Director of Services for Housing and Social Inclusion, Environment and Recreation and Amenity, to open up publicly-owned facilities as shelters for people without a home.
The homeless charity Cope Galway has said there were double the number of people sleeping rough in Galway City compared to previous years. Much of this has been attributed to 13% hike in rents and the unavailability of rental properties.
Their survey on November 21 found there were 19 people – almost exclusively male – sleeping outdoors, with all beds at the three homeless shelters full. The average length of stay at these hostels is now 90 days compared to just a month previously.
Cllr Cubbard said that with Galway City Council spending €25,000 a month on emergency measures, it was time to consider alternative short-term options.
“As it stands, a family entering emergency accommodation is potentially separated with the father going to a men’s shelter and the children staying in a separate location with their mother.
“Equally, those sleeping rough deserve a bed. Anyone using alcohol or other substances cannot gain access to the emergency beds so are given sleeping bags and blankets.
“I have made a formal request to the Director of Services that Galway City Council open the doors of a council-owned facility over the coming weeks, such as a community centre, in the hours of darkness to provide safe shelter for those in need of it.”
For more on the proposal for the homeless, see this week’s Galway City Tribune