Dr. Dermot Kavanagh:

There is not enough such housing. We have aftercare housing for seven people leaving addiction treatment and that has had a very positive and measurable effect. Before we put that accommodation in place, the pathway into addiction treatment from our shelter was very small, involving only six or seven people a year whereas it is 30 or 40 people a year now. Previously people leaving residential addiction treatment often found themselves homeless, back in the shelter and then back in addiction very quickly but when we put in the aftercare housing, that made a real difference. However, people are now getting stuck in aftercare housing. Again, I bring it back to housing and the fact that we need more housing.

Housing First is great; it is fabulous. The city council provides half of the units and the Simon Community and Focus Ireland provide the other half. It is fabulous but if people go into addiction treatment and sort out their addiction issue they do not meet the criteria for Housing First any more. There are aftercare beds available although they are, to use that terrible phrase, getting silted up but there are no dedicated homes available for people leaving addiction treatment. In parallel to Housing First, there should be beds available for people leaving addiction treatment. It is a no-brainer and I do not know why we do not do it.