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Homelessness
Homeless charity served 57,000 meals to over 3,500 people last year
The founder of the Peter McVerry Trust has called on the government to tackle the problem of homelessness.
THE FOUNDER OF a homeless charity in Dublin has called for political intervention to tackle the problem across the country.
Peter McVerry, of the Peter McVerry Trust, was speaking as the charity launched their 2012 annual report. The report showed that over 3,500 people had availed of services from the charity, including homeless and housing support, drug treatment and under 18s residential services.
74 per cent of those using the services of the trust were aged between 18 and 35, 80 per cent of those were men and the trust served over 57,000 hot meals to those in need.
1,708 were provided with emergency housing, while 419 were provided with residential placements.
Father Peter McVerry, who founded the charity, says that he feels the problem is getting worse.
“After 30 years of working to eliminate homelessness, I believe the problem is now worse than ever, perhaps even out of control.
Homelessness is a political problem, ultimately the problem of homelessness can only be solved by providing homes for homeless people and that is the responsibility of the Government.
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