Northern Ireland

Platform: The Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on those facing homelessness

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected those facing homelessness and thrown up so many challenges for organisations like Extern seeking to help. Picture by Nick Ansell/PA Wire.
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected those facing homelessness and thrown up so many challenges for organisations like Extern seeking to help. Picture by Nick Ansell/PA Wire. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected those facing homelessness and thrown up so many challenges for organisations like Extern seeking to help. Picture by Nick Ansell/PA Wire.

The impact of lockdown has been particularly harsh for those facing homelessness. As we mark Homelessness Awareness Week, CEO of leading local charity Extern Danny McQuillan says some deeply worrying trends have begun to emerge among those affected as a consequence of Covid.

When the world went into lockdown in 2020, it became apparent very quickly that if a standard of equal dignity and care was not met for the most vulnerable in society during ‘normal’ times, it rapidly becomes a casualty in times of crisis.

For organisations like Extern, supporting the most vulnerable in our communities, there have been so many challenges over the past year and half. And, believe it or not, we haven’t even begun to see the very worst of how lockdown has affected those facing homelessness.

For example, we have seen the people we support becoming noticeably younger than the age groups we would usually encounter. Many are caught in a cycle of sofa surfing or rough sleeping, and are increasingly engaged in street activity, along with the many risks which are inherent in this. Many too are increasingly using drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism for managing trauma and the effects of other adverse experiences.

Last year, Extern supported 1,017 people facing homelessness across Northern Ireland, each of them individuals with a range of complex needs to be considered – poor mental health, addiction, family breakdown, community conflicts. For the most part, these are hidden issues, which people are often reluctant to talk about. They present us with uncomfortable truths about our society, and in response we seek simplistic responses – ‘Give them a place to live and they’ll be fine’.

Simply putting a roof over someone’s head is not the solution to complex issues like these, though – assuming such resources are even there in the first place. With less homes having been built or completed during lockdown, this has put additional strain on what limited stock remains. The corollary of this is that we lean even further on the private rented sector, an option which is out of reach for many individuals and families.

This in turn has pushed many people out of the bigger urban areas and into our rural towns, where pockets of rough sleeping have begun to spring up. Stories reaching us include people finding shelter in shop doorways in Bangor, while a Romanian family sleeping on the street in Cookstown recently hit local headlines. These are sights which once might have been unimaginable in communities such as these and which, we fear, may only continue to grow in the months and years ahead.

People are on the edge right now, and it is up to all of us to ensure they do not slip over. One big step forward we can all take for Homelessness Awareness Week is to think about how we meet society’s attitudes and prejudices towards this issue. This includes opening positive conversations about how we can support people with finding their way out of homelessness, how we can encourage a more socially conscious rental sector, and creating a genuine understanding of the multitude of complexities which lead people into homelessness.

Covid was an earthquake in the middle of an already fragile landscape of complex need and insufficient resource. The impact caused by the pandemic will be felt by everybody for generations to come - but most especially those who had so little to begin with.

:: Homelessness Awareness Week runs from December 6-12. For details, visit www.homelessconnect.org/homelessness-awareness-week-6-12th-december/ To find out more about Extern’s range of services, visit www.extern.org or follow @ExternCharity on social media