Finding the Way Home Joint working system and access to health, personal care and specialist “ Oy sonyeovenwhghit oonr harfmheobeelessr,easctcupiedehoasdmhtletgevlsoinenigmanberaflewehtotsseccatahtnrecnocadahsredivorpecivreSdrug/alcohol and mental health services was becoming more government defines it, you know six months and restricted for people who were homeless. It was widely half those beds are occupied by people who are thought that the capacity of all forms of homelessness service HRC affected. to function well was being impaired by a context where it was harder for people who were homeless to claim benefits and Service Provider. access health care. The greater concern from the perspective of some service The two specific issues were cuts to health and other services providers was what was termed HRC ‘light’. This referred to local and changing rules on the level and eligibility for welfare authorities following a policy of applying a residence to test to benefits. Cuts to health services were reported as making it people who had recently been resident in other areas. “ harder to secure support for people who were homeless when they were being resettled or were trying to live independently Where people who have been living and working and in the community. claiming welfare in Limerick or Dublin, if they come “ getktemucxtrurhellpdiangbon yoasneess,,so,ufaust can’t taudan, taeyrehntledeeashoysatlgoyashhkuthoLwenceciiktort’nsnliargbeitmsoiunodols,eeocctanrbofweohdledlvuotranpesrplicotnroubfote’crietoantwetdaon,hnae…rerialabernoDaednwjitnoyemdaseersaeuhtgntiaehtsineneorpedaohteaedhyroeoVl referring, getting people linked into the area, that move them on. So therefore the biggest barrier for there just wasn’t the meals on wheels, all of that, us, in terms of moving people on, is people falling the GPs, everything was booked out, so there’s under either the HRC or the centre of interest, which just not the resources, they weren’t there. means they have no option for housing. Service Provider. Service Provider. “ goeto…ntnparsumlptraylynthe,merdiicesquieettherewe “ Iikreonlaime ubliunapristhendcd’meybacooherf pnston,seueahcierboehogtuurkydlenoatsmIa,niaunqodedrndfonthuaoDnonysctIeemt’lstahtsgrnaitse’temvneasoeskilinlolirautucciutrtssat,ahatse’learvehrTp like and the gap is with the individual as such I lived back here before I went to prison. And when like and with the problems of the individual, of I came back – before I was renting a house up here, which there is many, but it’s an assumption I was getting my dole no problems – but when I through these models that structurally everything come back up here they were telling me I can’t get is in place, it’s just a matter of organisation and me dole because I’m not from the area. coordination, which it quite simply isn’t. Male, recently homeless, 20. Service Provider. Service providers also reported that structural and administrative Concerns about changes to the welfare system that were barriers existed to some services. While it is a longstanding and thought to be undermining the capacity of people who are often reported problem, the issue of mental health services not were homeless to live independently were restrictions to rent working with people with drug and alcohol problems and drug related allowances in relation to what the levels of private rents and alcohol services not working with people with mental health were, which was discussed above, and also the impact of the problems was again reported. This is not something unique to Habitual Residence Condition (HRC)84. Non-Irish migrants Ireland and has been reported as a barrier to meeting the needs were in the same position85. The HRC was seen as creating of people living rough with severe mental illness and problematic barriers to the welfare system for returning Irish citizens who drug and alcohol use in the UK for the last quarter of a century86. had been working abroad for several years, this resulted in ‘pools’ of people, who are homeless and could not claim benefits, forming in emergency accommodation. 84 http://www.welfare.ie/EN/OperationalGuidelines/Pages/habres.aspx 85 See: Mayock, P. and Sheridan, A. (2012b) Migrant Women and Homelessness: Key Findings from a Biographical Study of Homeless Women in Ireland (Research Paper 2. Women and Homelessness in Ireland) Dublin: School of Social Work and Social Policy and Children’s Research Centre. http://www.tcd.ie/childrensresearchcentre/assets/pdf/Publications/ research_paper_two_women_and_homelessness_in_ireland.pdf 86 Pleace, N. and Quilgars, D. (1996) Health and Homelessness in London London: The Kings Fund. 26
Finding the Way Home
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