Focus Ireland and Bord Gáis Energy are calling on business leaders, companies, employees, and individuals to sleep out on October 14th in order to shine a light on those without homes and raise funds for Focus Ireland.
Ahead of the event, we spoke with Focus Ireland's Director of Services, Ciara Carty, to discuss the changing face of Ireland's unhoused and the latest government figures which show that 10,492 people have been recorded to be in emergency accommodation in June of this year.
"We're really in an absolute storm," Carty told RTÉ Lifestyle. "It's been a combined set of unfortunate circumstances, really."
"The pandemic was a very challenging time and a very difficult time but, ironically, we probably saw the numbers go down during the pandemic because of the measures being taken such as the moratorium on evictions and the increased allocations of resources to support people."
Pic: Naoise Culhane.
Carty credits the Department of Housing and the Department of Health along with various other agencies for their collaborative work during the height of the pandemic, but says that since lockdown measures have eased, things have "taken a turn".
"It's down to a number of factors," she explains. "The supply of housing has been inadequate for a number of years but it's gone to a point now where we literally don't have enough units of accommodation for everyone."
While many of us may picture the stereotype of a single adult male when we think of those homeless in Ireland, Carty insists that the "face of homelessness has changed" and that she is now seeing young families being priced out of their accommodation or are simply unable to find anywhere to rent in the first place.
"Traditionally, years ago, you would have had a small cohort of people that, through personal circumstances or misfortune, found themselves in the same vulnerable position. Now, it's incredible, any one of us - as a matter of course, depending on where we're at - could come into an experience of homelessness."
"I don't necessarily like the label of being homeless because it's not something that should be permanently attached," she continued. "For some people, it's a very short experience and those are the people who are able to come in, get support, and get out of the system. But because the system is at its max, we're finding that people are coming in and getting stuck."
To help people through the shock and trauma of becoming homeless, Carty says that Focus Ireland have put a number of support systems in place.
"We make sure we have child support workers working with the families, helping the children to actually just cope with the experience, and helping parents to parent through a really challenging situation."
On a day to day basis, the Director of Services says seeing families in emergency accommodation over a long period of time can be one of the most difficult issues for her team to face.
"There is no one group of people we support that is more needy than another, but I think our teams on the ground and very conscious of the impact and the trauma of homelessness on children."
To raise much-needed funds for those in need and to give a much-needed boost of morale to all involved, the Shine a Light Night campaign will take place for it's tenth year on October 14th, 2022.
"It's always very emotional," admits Carty. "One of the things that we try to do in making the experience memorable is to bring a customer's voice directly into the space to share their story."
"We've had some moments on the Shine a Light Nights that I have found quite invigorating. I have always come away from that night with a renewed sense of drive and hope and motivation to keep going. I think it's also very humbling for the very successful business leaders to be without their home comforts for a night and to experience just a fraction of what someone might go through."
One such sponsor is Bord Gáis Energy, who have been working closely with Focus Ireland to drive awareness of family homelessness since 2015m and have recently announced that they will continue their sponsorship through to 2026.
This year, Focus Ireland hope to raise €1.5m during the fundraising campaign and surpass last year's funds raised of approximately €1.25m, which will go directly towards services preventing families in Ireland from becoming homeless.
"We have great support from donors and sponsors throughout the year but Shine a Light Night is a really key event to support a number of programmes that we operate, in particular the family services."
People across Ireland can take part in Shine a Light Night by signing up to sleep out at home on 14th October on shinealight.focusireland.ie.
