Planning Permisson -V- Homelessness

I have just listened to our radio news and heard:-

1. The bodies of two people who used the homeless services in Cork were recovered from the river Lee yesterday.

2. Over twenty business people are objecting to a homeless hostel opening near Dublin's city centre; some on the grounds that "residents" will have some alcohol consumed.

The Spirit of Christmas ain't as alive and well as we would be led to believe. I'm sure these objectors looked at what happened in the Co Mayo Care Home and were disgusted etc. The objectors themselves are not much different to the perpetrators of what happened in the Care Home.

Later on the radio I listened to an ad from Sister Stan informing us that homelessness was never so rampant.

The like of this happened some years ago in Cork where a well-known hotel was about to be built near a new Simon Hostel in Cork. Both the hostel and hotel were subsequently built and used.

While this is horrible that two people have died - I wouldn't want a homeless hostel near me and can understand why a business wouldn't.

I lived near a homeless hostel in Dublin for a few years and I never experienced any problems but I was young and single and not around during the day.
I do find it strange that the number of homeless and/or refugee hostels in an area seems to be inversely proportional to the number of barristers in the same area.
Then again maybe it’s the economic apartheid that conveniently separates the smoked salmon socialists from the “poor” that they claim to be so concerned about.

1 of the business owners was on the radio earlier- he objected because he understands the proposed Hostel was going to have methadone clinic and needle exchange also.
He said he had no issue with a basic Hostel.

Can't say I blame him....the clinic will only bring drug dealing into the area. And as we have an ineffectual police force for this type of thing, the local area will only head in 1 direction IMO

The County Mayo Carehome and this thread have been foremost in my mind over the past few days and probably stay with me for a long time to come.

I notice about one tenth of the posts re the "Carehome" have some relevance most being bushwacked by trades unions bashers. Then the thread died here.

The second subject to stay in my mind is this thread Planning Permission -V- Homelessness. A couple of posters came on to say that they would not like to live near a Homeless Hostel and could understand why businesses would object to one being provided nearby and (let me say) fair play to their honesty. I too, lived near a Homeless Hostel and I cannot remember even one occasion on which I was anyway afraid. I must admit, I had a drug abuser come into our garden to shoot up once (he was not homeless and he was working nearby); he left some drug using objects (syringe, bong etc) in the garden when leaving on my approaching him.

I am surprised at the lack of empathy with all of the victims on both threads. I would have thought both subjects would have invited a more Christian outlook from posters. But, no these subjects are just going to sink into the background of news and a few months down the road we will have forgotten completely about the two situations.

Does that say something of us as a Caring Nation?

Leper said:

The County Mayo Carehome and this thread have been foremost in my mind over the past few days and probably stay with me for a long time to come...

I am surprised at the lack of empathy with all of the victims on both threads. I would have thought both subjects would have invited a more Christian outlook from posters.

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Hi Leper

I don't agree with your assertion that there was a lack of empathy for the victims in the care home thread.

There were some union-related posts , but I believe that there was a dignified respect for the clients in the care home and their families in tandem with other musings.

Marion

Leper said:

The second subject to stay in my mind is this thread Planning Permission -V- Homelessness. A couple of posters came on to say that they would not like to live near a Homeless Hostel and could understand why businesses would object to one being provided nearby and (let me say) fair play to their honesty. I too, lived near a Homeless Hostel and I cannot remember even one occasion on which I was anyway afraid. I must admit, I had a drug abuser come into our garden to shoot up once (he was not homeless and he was working nearby); he left some drug using objects (syringe, bong etc) in the garden when leaving on my approaching him.

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What if you had kids and it was them that came across the addict shooting up, and picked up some of his gear after he ran away?
Some of the objectors, business owners, made it clear they had no issue with a homeless shelter but did to a methadone clinic with a needle exchange. And that to my mind, is a fair objection.

The objection appears to be rooted on false information, the Simon community have clearly stated that there will not be a methadone clinic at the hostel. There will be nurse and GP services and there will be clean needles available.

I can understand the local concern, it is hard to feel reassured that the hostel users will make good neighbours but all the same, it is serving a clear need in the area.

Delboy said:

What if you had kids and it was them that came across the addict shooting up, and picked up some of his gear after he ran away?
Some of the objectors, business owners, made it clear they had no issue with a homeless shelter but did to a methadone clinic with a needle exchange. And that to my mind, is a fair objection.

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Hi Delboy, many thanks for your post. I spent some time ruminating about the possibility and consequences of one of our kids coming across the drug abuser. Then I thought, What if the drug abuser was one of your kids?

I don't mean to sound like a smart-ass; I'm just thinking . . .

Leper said:

Hi Delboy, many thanks for your post. I spent some time ruminating about the possibility and consequences of one of our kids coming across the drug abuser. Then I thought, What if the drug abuser was one of your kids?

I don't mean to sound like a smart-ass; I'm just thinking . . .

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Well, it's hard to argue back to a response like that!!!

Delboy said:

Well, it's hard to argue back to a response like that!!!

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You see Delboy. Where you are, I once was. Then life has a habit of catching up. It caught up with me on many issues and continues to creep up.

I hope I don't sound like Mother Teresa, but many's a turn awaits all of us and it's how we deal with these turns dictates what kind of person we are.