BREAKING: Occupiers of Apollo House will leave the building this morning to comply with court order to vacate
— Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) January 12, 2017
The residents will be housed in another shelter that’s been ‘independently sourced’ – isn’t McVerry or other service provider #apollohouse
— Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) January 12, 2017
Taxis are now pulling into Apollo House to bring residents elsewhere pic.twitter.com/Y7FgpN0Z4R
— Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) January 12, 2017
Meanwhile…
Even the #apollohouse dog is getting ready to leave pic.twitter.com/V25EFmxYWm
— Sean Defoe (@SeanDefoe) January 12, 2017
Mmmf.
Previously: Common Sense, Love And Respect
UPDATE:
Home Sweet Home has released the following statement:
Since Home Sweet Home (HSH) was launched, the following has been achieved:
- No homeless person died on our streets over Christmas 2016, or since.
- Single-night beds in hostels were turned into minimum six-month beds where wanted by residents.
- Night-time only beds have been made 24-hour beds.
- New and specific provision has been made for couples in emergency accommodation.
- Two new facilities have been gained which will support ‘own key’ independent living for our most vulnerable citizens where appropriate.
- Residents of Apollo House have enjoyed a warm, happy and special Christmas and New Year thanks to the generosity of the public and volunteers.
- A new level of public awareness has been brought to this homelessness and housing emergency focussing not just on bed numbers, but on raising the bar on the minimum standards of care available to all homeless people.
- During the Apollo House occupation, 76 people previously sleeping on our streets have been transitioned into stable beds.
It is regrettable that, in recent days, the State has failed to take this opportunity to publicly support this effort to address a national emergency, instead seeking to deny clear commitments made and to use law to effectively force some people back into unsuitable accommodation for their needs.
This has meant that citizens who are entitled to support services cannot access them in Apollo house due to a court order. This is unsafe and therefore untenable.
Home Sweet Home announced on Monday, January 9, that it is to be a permanent intervention in the nation’s housing policy and discussion. This does not involve forcing people who are in recovery to enter a ‘wet environment’ against their wishes where they are endangered.
Accordingly, Home Sweet Home, as a public campaign, will house those currently in Apollo House elsewhere until Minister [for Housing, Simon] Coveney and the support services deliver what they committed to last Friday, January 6 – the short and long-term needs of residents being met according to their needs.
Home Sweet Home will not be making these locations public in the interest of residents’ privacy but details will be provided to support services so that all supports will be available.
Home Sweet Home will ensure that all of the matters agreed with Minister Coveney will be delivered and will continue its campaign to deliver on its Emergency Housing Plan published on January 5, 2017.
Via Sean Defoe
Pics: Rollingnews
Anyone wanna take a bet that its not Brendan Ogles house they are moving to?
How amusing and droll. Are you here all day?
Yes, in their 24 hour bed.
Some people have a fierce hard on for Ogle these days. At least he’s being proactive, rather than the FG Fraperoom warriors blindly supporting the people who caused this mess.
+100. The interwebs is full of these armchair commentators who spend their time criticizing people who are actually getting things done and making a difference. Congratulations to all the people involved with the Home Sweet Home initiative.
100%
You have to admit that Home Sweet Home is making more strides in dealing with the homeless situation than the many high paid / overpaid homeless charity chief executives and their policy managers.
“It is regrettable that, in recent days, the State has failed to take this opportunity to publicly support this effort to address a national emergency, instead seeking to deny clear commitments made and to use law to effectively force some people back into unsuitable accommodation for their needs.”
Whatever about the ins and outs of all of this, you cannot blame the courts for siding on the rule of law. The courts cannot pick and choose when to follow the law and when the ignore it. The courts have to cold and emotionless.The courts should not have been put in that position in the first place.
+1
The courts are independent and should only rule on the point of law in front of them. Anything else isn’t impartial justice.
That is in no way a comment on the hsh initiative or the homeless issue.
Which is why it was felt necessary to repeat it on a blog site? Puffed up little gorilla
another aggressive “new poster”
I know. How dare anyone change their avatar or call you out on your aggression against the poor, women or minorities? Go away and lie down
Do you know how to be civil?
Can you respectfully disagree with people?
Can you hold different opinions without hating?
These are all simple life skills to have and to learn and will make the world seem a little sweeter. And the comments section a little more pleasant to peruse.
Oh yes
Let’s everyone have a hug and sing Kumbaya
Right so. I’ll start us off.
And… kumbayahhhhhh my lord!
@Happy Molloy havent you heard? Any and everyone who disagrees with apollo house and how HSH operate is now an officially branded member of the alt right regardless of your opinions on homelessness or any other social issue
I would seem so!
I like to call him/her Taanentless The Ineffective….
Doesn’t even know what a * slow clap * is, apparently. Which is pretty pi** poor trolling in all fairness.
Standard are dropping, even for the Trolls.
Apey Molly
Keep it civil Taanbuaagam. Its much better to read a discussion than a petty squabble.
We’ll have to bear 4 years of that kind of stuff from Trump, it gets boring very quickly
Yes junk face
I’ll take your comments on board but not going to take correction on here from smug self righteous neo liberal cheerleaders for the global financial system which has made paupers of us all
Spare us all you stupid hippy
Who asked you jungleland? You heard what he said if you are incapable of discussing items without getting into a petty squabble butt out
maybe law should start incorporating morals and ethics, the ability to consider a bigger picture instead of sticking to a blinkered window of the world?
+1 The law is a bottom – Charles Dickens
Eh that’s not what Charles Dickens wrote..
Haha
my bottom
My bottom
My kingdom for a bottom
Lame poster doesn’t understand separation of powers.
“use law to effectively force some people back” is not an indictment of the law or the courts but of the “users” of the law, here referred to as “the state”. The law is a component of the state, but it is government that formulates the law. Whether it’s the receiver or the government themselves which is bringing the case this is a fair criticism. I know your masters may not agree … but that’s another discussion …
“Lame poster … your masters”
I remember when you were able to have decent discussions on here with immediately resorting to insults and sneering at the motivations if they have a slightly different opinion to yours.
+1
+1
+1s from the two main guys here who attack women, excoriate the homeless and label other posters as scum
Nice work reppy you are in great company
I can disagree with Clampers but still regard someone making a vile comment about his personal history as scum.
Please show me where I’ve excoriated the homeless.
Oh and tell us your old usernames while you’re at it. Are you Moyest? :)
Your particular observation I recall Kieran is that such commentary ( calling out a misandrist) was abusive. Further Clampers sought to advertise his own personal history here in a craven attempt to curry favour with Nigel and some of the more watery hippies we have here for far too long.
You on the other hand seem to think you have a monopoly on being abusive yourself while trying to ban others who in tournament play are just telling it as it is. You make me sick.
Nah, whatever. It was Old Vic’s vile comment about Clamper’s personal history that I objected to. It was a scummy comment and only a scummy person would have made it. And Broadsheet agreed, since they removed it.
Your use of “tournament play” to describe commenting on a website indicates that you’re admitting to being a troll, just interested in scoring points and being nasty rather than actually debating. Cool beans.
Maybe change your username again?
KFC..Here’s a radical idea for you. You could always ignore what you don’t like. It’s very easy.
Your p*ssing and moaning to the administrators to make your world all better is more boring than the original sh*tty comment you’re whinging about.
Ha ha, lots of comments get removed regularly for various reasons.
Wonder if BS uses a scumometer.
I was raised to try and engage in civil discourse and stand up to bullies, Anne.
Unlike some, I guess. :)
Whoever raised you didn’t do a great job Kieran
I didn’t see that comment, but I agree with Kieran, it was a foul thing to say, as are comments on his mental health. Clamps was open and honest about his history and his health, To use them as ammo against him is repugnant. It’s perfectly possible to point out that he’s wronger than a kangaroo in a submarine without resorting to either.
That’s ok Nigel. I don’t agree with or didn’t see the comment myself either but I did notice that Kieran re-posted it at least 3 times yesterday – falling over himself to express his outrage so he was. At the end of the day Clampers has some pretty whack and out there views on women and liberals in general and so I don’t see anything wrong with calling him out for the misandry.
In fairness to Kieran it’s hard to take someone to task for saying a thing without referring to the thing.
Taanentless The Ineffective… did someone sink your battleship pet?
I may have gone toe to toe with Kieren NYC pre-election but that’s par for the course, we move on, next issue, next discussion. And although we got heated, there were no direct personal attacks or personal ridicule made by either of us towards each other.
With regard to my revelations. I spilled those some time ago. Long before that exchange with wee Nigel. And yes, it does need to be repeated now and again as was the case with Nigel. Why, because some don’t know, and are baffled by some of my comments. In the past, enough have expressed thanks for clarification. But if you want to call it “craven”. Well fine, others call it something else, that’s fine too. I do it sometimes to reveal my own bias to another commenter. Everyone has bias, most of us are not aware of or hide them, but they are worth revealing if you have a strong one or two of them. And I have one for sure :)
You are entitled to hold your judgemental position Taanentless, and you are welcome to it.
Now, do me a favour and go pleasure yourself with a Toilet Duck nozzle, good lad / lassie ;0)
“some pretty whack and out there views on women”
Please do go on…. a list please.
1.
2.
3.
etc…..
Or put a sock in the accusations, thanks.
You see it’s the passive aggressive trolling that is the real give away clamp man. Why not take yourself off to a professional instead of whining and mouthing off to the ludramans in here? You know it makes sense.
Actually I paraphrased the original comment as delicately as possible while still getting the gist across. The original comment was much, much worse.
I did it because Old Vic was having a pop at me for calling him out for the vile comment, while still trying to play the victim.
Anyway, c’est la vie.
“passive aggressive” does not equal a request for clarification on accusations Taanentless
Plse try again, you’ll get there eventually.
– – –
Thanks Kieran
@ Nigel
I don’t use Clamps obvious mental health issues “against” him, in fact I initially advised him to seek professional help and not be on this talking to anonymous strangers about his issues. He responded to this by calling it an “accusation” like I had picked at a running sore.
It’s one of two things you see, either
a) Clampers is a fraud and has no real mental health issues but is using that as an excuse as he says himself to beg tolerance with the likes of decent folks like you Nigel, for what he calls his “bias”, but to most people here looks like right old fashioned misogyny and misandry
b) Clampers has real issues and as such should not be on here ranting on about his various problems as if nothing else it could be detrimental to his future career or family members to read all this highly personal stuff.
Either way it’s not appropriate behavior for a public blogging site. But feel free to back him up especially you Kieran who prefers to abhor bullying, abuse and misandry so much.
c) Taanentless The Ineffective, you’re missing one maaaahoooosive thing. Recovery. You don’t appear to have listed it as a result, so i take it you don’t believe in it, or don’t believe I can. That’s unfortunate.
Taanentless, you have demonstrated the closed mind that the preaching of “victimhood” is something to hold onto and take power from creates. A nonsense idea with no basis in fact or practice (in the way used on campuses). I have rallied against practices that encourage it, such as ‘safe spaces’. ‘Victimhood’ is paralysing, it’s stunting, it encourages paranoia, it does not work for a healthy recovery. The power is in the recovery, being able to look forward, not playing to the victim, looking back.
People can recover perfectly well and learn an awful lot through many types of mental health issues.
I’ve never been prescribed any medication for mental health, but this one time, i asked for a prescription of Xanax… some laugh, for many reasons… another day…. Anyway, I digress.
My mental health issue was addiction. That’s not been a concern for many years now. My addiction was trigger related and when the triggers were removed the addiction was quite easily (once ya get going, it is) brought to a halt.
The DV situation was the big trigger. I got the counselling I needed. I sought it out, after it was pointed out I may need it, so I did. And it works too. None of this happened over night. It took two years.
And I do, believe it or not, have quite a positive view of the future. I don’t claim to have any ongoing mental health issues. I do claim to have had experiences in my past.
I don’t expect things to be perfect, and they never will. But, while I’m here, and my own experiences open me up to see some terrible lies about such issues as domestic abuse and many of those lies for decades upheld, and attempts at their exposure mocked by ideologically lead interests…. well… one would become somewhat incensed, don’t you think, that would be a somewhat normal reaction.
– – – – – –
@ Nigel
*Sorry Nigel, I may be a while…*
“I don’t use Clamps obvious mental health issues”
I have been diagnosed online by Taanentless The Ineffective. I read once people diagnose themselves with all sorts of problems by reading stuff online. At least I, got mine, from a professional!
…without even looking for it.
“in fact”
Here comes the science…..
” I initially advised him to seek professional help and not be on this talking to anonymous strangers about his issues.”
I have ‘issues’… and here was I referring to them as experiences*
“He responded to this by calling it an “accusation” like I had picked at a running sore.”
Sorry Dr, my bad, you knows best for sure.
“It’s one of two things you see, either”
This is gonna be good, finally, the answers!
“a) Clampers is a fraud and has no real mental health issues but is using that as an excuse as he says himself to beg tolerance with the likes of decent folks like you Nigel,”
Hi Nigel *waves* ….one word…. ‘recovery’
” for what he calls his “bias”, but to most people here looks like right old fashioned misogyny and misandry” ”
Please, point to any example of these accusations, in your own good time.
“b) Clampers has real issues”
Thank you once again Dr, but the science has been disappointing, I was hoping for something a bit more, well… ‘Tomorrows World’ would have been nice, all retro and full of 80s stuff.
“and as such should not be on here ranting on about his various problems as if nothing else it could be detrimental to his future career or family members to read all this highly personal stuff.”
Because I was judged by people like you to be unfit mentally.
“Either way it’s not appropriate behavior for a public blogging site. But feel free to back him up especially you Kieran who prefers to abhor bullying, abuse and misandry so much.”
Oh me, oh me, oh my….. Don’t ya just miss Joe Dolan…
If you stuck it out this far, and are still reading this….
Then, you are a culprit in this, backing me up, my enablers! Sinners all! Sinners I tells ya not, the good Dr tells ya! Because the good Dr, the good Dr says you’re causing me the mentals.
You’ll all drown in rivers, like bags of cats drown, I guess, thrown in on Halloween Night (’cause it’s scary, that way), and then…. other stuff will happen, mental stuff ’cause I’m mental and things.
THE END
You’re right, bf course, the larger point is how these people are being let down by all the institutions they should be able to rely on, including the law.
Sigh. ‘but of course.’
Who is blaming the courts?
What HSH are discovering is how complex the problem is.
They wouldn’t allow any drug users or those with alcohol problems into Apollo house .
But many of the rough sleepers have these problems so they have to be allowed into other hostels.
Dublin Inquirer wrote an excellent piece on how this situation is being handled from the perspective of hostels users.
http://www.dublininquirer.com/2017/01/11/streets-rough-sleepers-dream-months-stable-emergency-beds/
That Dublin Inquirer piece is excellent.
Simply put, there are a lot of people with complex (maybe incurable) mental health and substance abuse issues in Dublin.
No one wants to live with them. Not even each other.
It is one of these problems that public policy struggles with and HSH have not found a solution.
Well one way would be if they lit a fire under the government to ameliorate the ongoing and worsening crisis involving people who are homeless through poverty and rising rents and house prices, which is putting intolerable strain on services for people with more complex psychological and dependency problems. I would have thought this would be self-evident.
There are places in this world with very low housing costs and lots of addiction problems too.
Everyone wants to believe there is a simple policy solution but there is not.
I agree completely with both statements Fact Checker, and do not believe they contradict anything I said above. I don’t think there’s a real will in government to tackle the complex causes behind the current crisis, which is why stuff like Apollo House needs to happen and keep happening until that will manifests.
You are right.
Policy problems exist on two dimensions:
1) EASY=================>HARD
2) POPULAR=============>UNPOPULAR
Obviously problems which are both HARD and UNPOPULAR don’t get solved.
HSH has managed to shift homelessness a little to the left for 2) but it was not made a solution any easier to implement.
I was struck by the earlier Broadsheet piece, which featured Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, and which went through various initiatives/protests etc over the years which sought to “end homelessness” (involving various suggested costs, some quite small and some very high). I think we have to realise we can’t “end homelessness” any more than we can end unemployment or drug addiction, no matter how nice a political tagline it is, given its complexities and the fact that it will continue to throw up fresh cases all the time. We can only manage the impact of it better or worse than before.
+1 Dubloony
That’s a very good article, very interesting reading. Thanks for that.
An excellent piece reflecting the complexity of the situation. It appears that HSH have been allowed a “get out” which will let them exit the situation while still looking good. But I’d say that they’ve found out that there’s more to the homelessness problem in Dublin than just providing a roof and a bed.
To be fair, they have highlighted the issue and kept it in the public eye for the last month, and that can only be a good thing. But I hope – as is implied in the article – that the situation has not been rectified at the expense of the long-term homeless already on the housing lists.
Exactly
Top piece that, thanks for posting.
Yes to all of the above
It has indeed helped turn attention to the issue of badly-used land and buildings in the centre of Dublin (even though Apollo House would never have been suitable) existing at the same time as there is a lot of homelessness.
But it has potentially generated more moral hazard than is already in the system.
Should your housing provision depend on how fortunate you are at generating media attention?
I know. Wouldn’t that be apoll-ing?
It’s a worrying situation
– Government using legislation
To effectively do nothing
Beyond petty pussy-footing
In an effort to cause ‘damage limitation.’
Governments… You can’t live with them and you aren’t allowed to shoot them.
They are not moving fast enough at all. No sense of urgency.
When all you live in is your coat
Your representative is remote
You’re well out of luck
They don’t give a fupp
Homeless people don’t vote
I hear hsh have cured cancer, found the loch Ness monster and stop global warming. Just to go along with all the other stuff they want to take credit for. No homeless people died, they want credit for that, maybe all the people who have spent years helping the homeless might have something to do with that, not just hsh.
God almighty, what’s worse, that HSH can’t actually solve the homeless crisis with the wave of a magic wand or that people think that their failing to resolve the homeless crisis with a wave of a magic wand is some sort of valid criticism?
Whats worse is hsh has turned into exactly what u thought it would, and got abuse on here over it, They are now trying to path their own backs. That’s not why people help and the things they want credit for had nothing to do with them. They had a meeting and were told about things already planned, they left the meeting and start taking credit for make these things happen. Iv given loads of help, food and time to the shelter beside me and none of hsh would last 5mins dealing with homeless they can’t hand pick.
exactly what I thought it would*
I guess this is where it all dissolves into in-fighting and back-biting and the government carries on carrying on. Carry on.
@ Nigel
-Are you a big fan of Harry Potter?
(serious question)
Expecto homelesso.
Haha, best reply in ages.
Presumpto Asshollio
: – (
Sorry Nigel… You seem kinda ‘okay’, but…
– Isn’t the problem traceable back to our ‘government’ NOT DOING what they’re elected to do? – To serve the people? ALL of the people?
Next time I give money or a cup of coffee to a homeless person I’m going to insist that they sign a declaration that they’ll pay tax on it. I’ll explain that it’s only fair.
I’m at a loss as to what it is you think I said that leads you to believe I DON’T think this problem lies ENTIRELY at the feet of the government not doing what they were elected to do. Taking it further, I lay it at the feet of an electorate seemingly incapable of holding their government properly to account. Which includes me, by the way. The good work HSH are doing providing some shelter for some homeless people is secondary to the storm they have helped create around the issue. I don’t know if it’ll be enough, but by God it’s something, and complaining that they can’t, eg, provide shelter for people with substance problems is entirely missing the point. Of course they can’t. Nobody can, effectively, while this is getting worse.
That is the first point on a list of 8…what are your views on their other achievements?
Darn those evil HSH credit-hoggers, helping people who desperately need it!
But, don’t they discredit themselves and the volunteers through disingenuous claims of their achievements… yes, yes they do.
Why is there such a problem with HSH? Are they doing a disservice? No, no they are not. This nitpicking to somehow demonise them is not very nice at all. In my view, they have done stellar work to finally have this ongoing problem put square in front of peoples faces. Just normal people trying to help. No crack team of PR guru’s or advisers. Well done HSH.
They have done stellar work. Their press release does not reflect that, because disingenuous claims around having prevented all and any rough sleeper deaths is disgusting exaggeration, and sullys genuine achievements.
well done, but only up to a point.
‘no-one died on the streets over christmas’. are they taking sole credit for that, when they they excluded the cohort of service users most likely to have chronic health problems or vulnerable to overdose?
‘single night beds were turned into 6-month beds’ is an aim all in homeless services want to see and would have happened with or without HSH’s input. did they fund or staff the extra allocation? nope, DCC did.
don’t get me wrong, i support anyone squatting a vacant building. i can’t help but feeling if they didn’t make such a song and dance about it they’d still be in there. i have an aversion to amateurs taking credit for others’ hard work is all.
If someone dies on the streets over the cold snap, will you blame HSH for that too? Or the government for their systemic failure to deal adequately with the chronic homelessness situation in this country (7,500 in Dublin alone).
Well said Anomanomanom
“No homeless person died on our streets over Christmas 2016, or since.” …might have something to do with the fact only a quarter of the rain that we got in Dec 2015, fell in Dec 2016. Temps were lower but not by much. Not lying on the wet ground would have a bigger effect than HSH, and HSH did not control for the weather. It is disingenuous to make this very very spurious claim.
Weather info: http://www.met.ie/climate/monthly-data.asp?Num=532
“two new facilities” were already planned. Not achieved.
It’s this pumping up of ‘achievements’ when the actual achievements were good enough that makes this so-called ‘victory’ bitter.
People didn’t help to hear the achievements lied about, I’m sure those of us that did, want to be told of the actual achievements and not what some twat wished was done FFS.
Otherwise, we end up changing nothing, and if there were a system to replace the current one, then these people will be just another gang of liars and exaggerators and bullpoo artists.
Fupp Off out of volunteering and activism if you cannot tell the truth about your achievements without resorting to lies and bullpoo.
Truth first and always! No matter what the cause. You cannot compromise integrity when doing charity work, it IS everything you do.
This is ridiculous. By all mean criticise a press release which inflates or overstates their achievements, but this hard-line grandstanding is utterly absurd.
It is just a criticism.
You interpret it as… hardline grandstanding.
Thanks
I just have to tell the truth, first and always, no matter what the cause. Soz.
You mean, you tell what you interpret Nigel.
Let’s be clear on that fact.
Thanks.
You want me to lie and tell you I interpret it the way you’d prefer?
I’m genuinely surprised you are sticking with this view. It now seems you’d prefer to give the weather the credit for no homeless deaths rather than a good group of volunteers trying to do the right thing. No deaths on our capitals streets during the holidays is a GOOD THING. Who are you to say that HSH did not have a hand in this. Or am I interpreting you wrong?
I’m not the one making the claim. I’m disputing a spurious claim.
We didn’t have the rain mixed with cold we had in the winter of 2015/16. Rain was less than a 1/4 of what had fallen the yr before. And please find me a Dub that didn’t say, “it’s unusually warm” right across December.
Cop on
Claimpers, thanks for the good weather.
– Nobody died… Well done so far.
Everyone else is wrong. I am wrong. Stupid homeless people, eh?
– Why don’t they just live somewhere cosy and comfortable, like what you do?
It’s dementsia
What an angry little fart.
Please get help
What a nasty little troll. How do you sleep?
No tiger attacks since the HSH initiative too.
and
No other country has invaded us.
Hail our HSH heroes!!! Truly giants amongst men/women.
World War 3 has been averted.
Thank Jeebus for HSH !
Wow. What a disintegration
Serious cold spell of weather coming in the next few days. I think they should hold off on the No homeless deaths thing. I hope some sort of improved plan is coming through from the Gov’t, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Damage limitation is all they really are concerned about. The rent freeze thing just really wasn’t even close to helping the situation, especially for the newly made homeless families in hotels. Depressing stuff.
Let us never forget who created this problem, whose purpose of existence was to NEVER to allow it to happen in the first place…
And don’t allow them to spin it in a different direction.
+KA-BLAMMO!!
People adverse to long-winded posts should skip this one.
Anyway. I don’t fully get the ire that is sent they way of HSH. I mean, I get the ire from the usual sources of any “liberal dogooders” work, but the ire from the established homeless support services seems to be born of a resentment to the attention HSH has gained rather than what it has achieved.
Speaking from long personal experience of social policy, the more direct action of HSH again shows how futile and slow ordinary “legal” social policy work is. Yes it is the “proper” way. It’s the polite way. Chatham house rules and all that, but it usually achieves sweet FA.
We like to think that there’s something nefarious in the old social partners wielding influence on politicians, dark evil lobbyists setting policy with TDs as their puppets. To be honest, after a career in social policy I genuinely wish it were that way, it would have been much more fun, but this isn’t House of Cards, this isn’t the US. The reality is much more Yes Minister (which got less funny and more a documentary with each year spent working in that area).
For all the good work of the existing homeless charities, what did they achieve in governmental policy that was actually implemented? Some stuff and some stuff that HSH has taken partial or complete credit for, but they were still on the carousel of position papers, submissions, meetings, civil servants and ministers giving non-committal lip service and no action. Round and round every year. It never stops. And that’s good because when you work in that area (policy) you don’t want total victory because then you’re redundant, so you want stuff to anger up the blood of those you represent. You want something left to make sure you still have a job.
The correct way of changing policy is only the correct way because ministers and civil servants want it to remain the correct way because it puts everything on the long finger and means they never have to do anything.
It is a disgrace that there are vacant buildings under the ownership of the government and people are on the streets. We all knew that of course, but we never talked about it. We see both the homeless and the vacant properties every day and most of us walk past them all without a thought.
Yes, homeless charities are doing fantastic work with little resources. But their trust in the civil polite means of social policy has failed and has failed the homeless. We didn’t even get this much press when people were dying in doorways. We had a nice candlelit vigil for one and we got a couple of days of media handwringing, but HSH has gone global, it has been in the press for weeks and remains in the press.
Talking among ourselves about vacant properties has done nothing. Sympathizing with the homeless has done nothing. Lighting a candle and feigning grief has done nothing.
Ultimately HSH may not achieve what we need. It may all fizzle out. To be honest, it probably will unless we don’t let it fizzle out. But it has done more in a few weeks than years of social policy.
It’s easy to understand the resentment – they’ve been working away at the coal-face, unappreciated, underfunded, under-resourced for decades, then this lot suddenly come along and get all the attention and the kudos while a lot of sneers are directed at ‘the homeless industry.’ They also know it could well be a flash in the pan and achieve nothing, or even leave things worse than they were before thanks to a very slippery and wily government. It’s just that resentment isn’t constructive or useful. It’s not fair, but there you go. The best course is to be the grown-up, force a grin, go along with it and hope it does achieve something.
…go along with it…
– Under your duvet…on your iPhone…and hope…
Hope it goes away…etc.
Dude, you’re misreading me, or I’m really, really not explaining myself very well.
I was thinking exactly the same thing Nigel.
The castigation of the HSH movement, the denigration of their intent and the subjugation of their legitimacy is a fight worth fighting against.
At the end of the day I think we might be mates.
We should stop fighting with each other, because that’s what THEY want us to do.
I’m slightly bemused at the notion that I somehow gave the impression I ever thought otherwise?
Agreed, Nigel
” resentment to the attention HSH has gained rather than what it has achieved. ”
I would have sung praises from roof tops, if the claims in the press release above were factual. They are not, so I won’t. It is that simple.
Trading the bullpoo of the govt for the bullpoo of the HSH is not what people volunteered or donated for. I’m sure others want honesty and integrity, not spin and exaggeration.
HSH have made great achievements, but putting some PR spin, and placing blatant exaggerations among the achievements sullies all the achievements with its disingenuousness, and anybody that helped should be rightly pi**ed off with any lies told.
The entire ‘charity’ industry got fupped up because of liars and disingenuos people. HSH should make better efforts to act with integrity and genuine achievement claims. It is not much at all to ask, achievements made are brilliant, without the exaggeration.
Excuse me Clumphead while I fix that for you;
‘If you cannot fix everything everything after years of blatant mismanagement and ‘not-giving-a-fuppery’ , shut up.
Is that it?
No I think it was
“I’m an angry little grommit
Shut it now”
From the dublin inquirer article quoted above:
“She says the council’s ability to “create” 40 new 24-hour supported beds shows it can be done and that it should now be done for all homeless people.
“With the click of a button they removed all the bureaucratic nonsense that meant that you had to wait three months for a six-month bed.””
My issue is that it is presented in the context of a knock against HSH rather than the council. Direct action worked. The standard red-tape was in place to empower the council to do nothing and hide behind anonymous civil servants who can reject applications on a technicality and push people to the back of the queue. This was achieved because of the shaming and the media attention not the polite setting up of a meeting and position papers.
We had accommodation planned. Confirmed? Absolutely 100% rubber stamped dates set and ready to go? Maybe not. A public commitment that can now be tracked? Yes.
I see the spin too, but I see what has been achieved. More than that it is public commitments where (if we really were bothered) we could see if they are followed through and hold the politicians accountable.
But the best thing is knocking HSH has become a great service to the government and local authorities. It suits them to have the homeless charities knocking HSH and complaining. It suits them to have cynical posters on news sites or callers to Joe being negative about HSH so that they can get back to the status quo of doing nothing about homelessness and get the buildings back into the hands of corrupt property developers.
And now every HSH volunteer has 15 bottles of shampoo, a case of baby wipes and a toaster each.
Brilliant post
Only person worth reading in this
Thanks.
Sorry, that was my attempt at irony.
My forté is anger, disguised in subtlety, cloaked in false wisdom and bereft of sobriety.
In real-life, (HA) I love everybody..
it made me smile though thanks Mam
PS.
I feed on your failings. Your intolerability is a product of your incapability.
I never attended college… I never got into that ‘better-than-them’ mindset.
– I still love you.
Tell your Ma to stop ringing me, please.
You need an enema though obviously
Considering that a lot of the people involved in HSH were volunteers, and the fact that they helped push the issue nationally in the media, should be commended not ridiculed for not doing enough or solving the crisis. They helped make a bad situation a lot more bearable for the homeless and may have given some of those homeless people a jolt of optimism and the feeling that society has not abandoned them.
100%
“No homeless person died on our streets over Christmas 2016, or since.”
Bit of a leap to claim credit for. Jonathan Corrie, for example, may still have died were HSH around as Apollo house is dry/drug free.
The bottom line is that HSH has made this an issue, a voice for the unheard.
Anyone who exerts effort towards undermining that or diminishing any aspect of it is a total scumbag and ought to be in government with like-minded parasites.
– If only we could get you ALL in the same place, at once…
100%
You know how sometimes you’re trying to explain to a six-yr old that he should stop leaving LEGO pieces on the floor, but you’re so drunk that you forget to dumb it down to language he can understand?
– It’s a bit like that for me, all the time.
LEGO, everywhere.
testing, testing…