Shining a light on youth homelessness
The annual Shine A Light sleep-out fundraiser takes place this Friday, October 10. Photo: Dermot Keyes
THE work of Focus Ireland is akin to a mature tree with many branches, extending in many directions, dependent on each strand and fibre to survive, grow and flourish.
The annual Shine A Light sleep-out fundraiser, which takes place this Friday, October 10, will see individuals, businesses and community groups spending a night out under the stars in support of those experiencing homelessness.
It’s a night loaded with solidarity towards those impacted by our largest single societal crisis – while also championing those who help to ease so considerable a burden.
For Laura Young, Focus Ireland’s Aftercare & Youth Services Manager in the South East region and Cork, the monies raised through Shine A Light are making a lifechanging difference for customers (the charity’s preferred terminology) and staff alike.
“There’s one peer support worker in Cork who comes to mind and, my goodness, she has come a long way,” said Laura, who has worked with Focus Ireland for 11 years.
“She’s a past drug and alcohol user, she’d slept rough in both Cork and Dublin but has turned her life around over the past four years. She’s currently working for 19 and a half hours a week with Focus Ireland, is just heading into her third year working with us and come January, hopefully she’ll be extending her working hours. On top of all that, she has entered into her third year studying Social Science at UCC and she’s planning to become a social care worker as well.”
Ms Young continued: “She has gone from using every imaginable substance to getting clean, and working with us and, remarkably, she’s now a part of the same team as her former key worker. It’s an incredible achievement. Part of our objective is to extend an olive branch to people who experience homelessness for a great many reasons. Sometimes they take it and run with it. Sometimes they don’t. But each and every day, we keep trying to extend that branch. And we never give up. We try and try again – and that’s really important. And that’s why Shine A Light matters. It enables us to help so many people during such a vulnerable and difficult time in their lives and we’re so grateful for the continued support we receive in Waterford and across the region every year.”
Laura’s brief deals with young adults (aged 18 and over) who are at risk of homelessness when they leave State care, foster care or residential care.
“We have two services that we run throughout the South East and Cork, firstly youth services, which is for anyone leaving their home at 18 who are at risk of homelessness - they would come through the local authority to get the support that we can offer them. The second service we provide is aftercare – so any person aged 18 who is at risk of homelessness having left State care is supported by Tusla through an aftercare project. Tusla then outsource our service to work with those most at risk of homelessness and both of those services are currently running in Waterford.”
Ms Young continued: “This element of our work is not a residential service – we’re a 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday service which operates out of our Parliament Street office in the city. We have four team members; two for youth housing and two for aftercare and this is our third year having a graduate on our programme so anyone that’s coming out of a social care degree gets a full year working with our young people and is well positioned when it comes to future opportunities with Focus Ireland, which may also arise for them.”
The office’s main role is to source and secure accommodation for their young customers but the properties Laura and her team are looking for, by and large, “don’t exist”.
A stay on funding earlier this year has prevented Focus Ireland from acquiring appropriate accommodation for young adults and there is no public indication that this will right itself any time soon.
“That doesn’t mean we just give up,” she added. “That’s something we’ll never do. We’ve achieved a swap between two customers in recent months, one who needed more space having had a baby and that’s worked very well for both parties.
"We’ve also begun to have some customers sharing a property, which isn’t always an easy fit given past traumas and other difficulties – and this will never be a one-size fits all proposition. But where we can make this happen and when we can achieve the necessary dynamic in a shared living environment, then of course we will support that, with all the caveats when living with someone else accounted for as best we can. And that’s why every Euro raised through Shine A Light matters. Every Euro matters.”
So why am I sleeping out this Friday?
Well, for starters, doing something is infinitely better than the alternative. In an environment where so much political time has been devoted to plans, strategies and promises, the slow policy making steps involved in rectifying a problem that's been decades in the making demands the public taking a stand in the interim. By doing something.
That's why, in my own small way, I want to help individuals and families impacted by homelessness and that's why Shine A Light matters. That's why I'm sleeping out again this year.
Forty years after its establishment by Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, the services provided by Focus Ireland are more important than ever.
We all wish that wasn't the case but I for one take solace in the fact that Focus Ireland staff are in our communities, supporting and advocating for those who need our support. Any and all contributions will be welcomed with enormous gratitude.
‘Shine A Light’ community sleep-outs will take place this Friday at University College Cork (UCC) at 7pm and the Crescent Shopping Centre in Limerick at 7:30pm.
For more on my fundraising effort, visit: https://joinus.focusireland.ie/fundraisers/dermotkeyes
