Focus Ireland has a dedicated team that works with families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, sadly the current environment means we are seeing a significant increase in the number of families who are homeless. Focus Ireland provides supported emergency accommodation as well as childcare centres and homework club for families in North Dublin and Waterford. We also work with families living in B&B and other forms of emergency accommodation across the country. Our aim is to help families at risk of homelessness to keep their homes and to move families who are homeless into a home of their own community as quickly as possible.
It has been long recognised that homelessness is about loss, the loss of a roof over your head, community and a familiar place to be is all part of being homelessness. For children the loss of a home is much more acute – the loss of friends, school, a place to do homework, a place to play, a place where they feel safe are sadly all part of what it is to be homeless as a child. Many families who are homeless are faced with long journeys to get children to their school this often results in children missing school and in the longer-term missing out on vital parts of their education, which can lead to them dropping out of school early and sadly ending up homeless as an adult.
