A CHARITY which offers a daytime sanctuary to Derry’s street drinkers said it is concerned by the increase in the number of people presenting to them as homeless.
Foyle Haven, now operated by Depaul, has provided daytime shelter, washing facilities and hot food to the city’s most vulnerable addicts since 2001.
Depaul’s service manager for the North of Ireland, Deirdre Canavan, said she is concerned that 82 additional people came to them presenting as homeless as a result of drug and alcohol consumption.
Ms Canavan said this increase is putting additional strain on their services, already under pressure as a result of the Covid pandemic.
She said: “We have been dealing with major issues in terms of supporting people in Derry throughout the Covid period – new presenters, a rise in drug and alcohol abuse, overdose incidents and mental health interventions.
“Our staff have been very much on the front line since the beginning.
“We are dealing with more people even though on a number of occasions we have had to close our Foyle Haven day centre due to public health guidelines.
“In the long run we feel this is not a sustainable situation without adequate funding and the availability of other support services.”
Ms Canavan said Depaul has also noted a rise in the use of heroin and mood altering benzodiazepines over the pandemic.
She added: “Since January of this year the charity has dealt with nine incidents of overdose and administered Naloxone – an opioid which when administered reverses the effects of a drug overdose – on 18 occasions.
“In addition, the charity has provided Naloxone training to a number of its service users and their family members.
“Depaul has been advocating for a health hub to be set up in Derry similar to the one opened in Belfast in 2019.
“But during the pandemic we have been able to secure funding for a number of health services where we are able to provide nursing interventions onsite, counsellors, a podiatrist and a dietician to help support vulnerable service users.”
Derry and Strabane Aontu councillor Emmet Doyle said he was familiar with the situation at Foyle Haven, which he said confirms what mental health professionals had forecast.
Mr Doyle said: “That Foyle Haven are under pressure from an increase in the number of people presenting as homeless is not news to me and it is part of a wider issue I am bringing to Council later this month.
“Our city is buckling under the weight of addiction which has been exacerbated by the lockdown forecast by our mental health professionals who warned we’d face a tsunami of difficulties including increased addiction.
“This is evidence of how vital it is that Derry gets the financial investment that will allow services like Foyle Haven to continue with the frontline work they do with our most vulnerable.”
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