Ms Alice Leahy:

It all boils down to building a relationship with the people one comes across. Where people have been committed to give an enormous amount of time to help people to move on it works. We must be prepared to accept the fact that there are people who have complex needs and people are required to support and help them, very often over a long time. I am reminded of the quote from the Scottish poet Andrew Lang of over 100 years ago. When asked for a definition of a statistic he said "He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts ... for support rather than illumination.” Behind every statistic is a human being, and people have complex needs. It is really much more about the kind of society we are living in. In homelessness we end up seeing people who do not feel part of that society and who must be encouraged to get back into it. This takes time. Services must be supported to give people that time.