Numbers seeking help from Dublin homeless charity up 20% in a week
The number of people looking for help from one homelessness charity in Dublin city centre has increased by 20 per cent in the last week alone.
The Mendicity Institution offers food and daytime provision services to the city's homeless population on a limited staff, and has expanded to opening for fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, compared to five days a week previously.
The charity's CEO, Louisa Santoro, says the numbers could be even higher still.
"That doesn't include people that we've had to turn away, because we're not the right service, because our priority is people who are sleeping rough, people who are in emergency accomodation, people who aren't being supplied with meals throughout the day.
"That's a large number in and of itself"
The charity had previously called for State funding for its ongoing operations late last year, among them one of the few daytime provision services for Dublin city's homeless population. It had already been experiencing a steady increase in demand for its services in the past year, as the ongoing housing crisis has intensified.
