The national housing and homeless charity, Peter McVerry Trust, has begun operating its first service in Galway. The charity, which worked with over 6,000 people across Ireland in 2019, is managing Westside Modular Family Hub in Galway City, and the first families were placed in the homeless service on the 6th of May.
The modular family hub is the first of its kind in Ireland and was developed by Galway City Council in partnership with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and the Housing Agency.
Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust said, “We were asked to come to Galway City and support the council in delivering and managing a new purpose-built family homeless service in the form of Westside Modular Family Hub. The city council has done a great job of delivering the project and we are looking forward to playing our role in working with the council and supporting families impacted by homelessness in Galway. We will do everything we can to ensure they get the high quality and professional supports they need, as we work on a daily basis to progress them out of homelessness.”
Offering High Quality Homeless Services
“This family hub service is about recognising that there is a need to offer families impacted by homelessness high quality, professional services and supports. While we don’t want or accept any family being homeless, we realise that at the present time we need to offer many families emergency accommodation. The Westside Modular Family Hub will offer own-door, two and three-bedroom units that will enable families to return to something approaching normality.”
“Each unit has its own kitchen, dining space, bathroom, and bedrooms. The families can do their washing and cooking in the privacy of their own units. There is an on-site playground. We have staff on-site 24-7 and we have a dedicated resource centre on-site where we can carry out key working sessions with families and where families can access IT services and engage with staff around progressing into housing.”
Delivering Social Housing
The charity said it has already begun to identify and progress social housing opportunities in Galway.
Concluding, Mr Doyle said, “The key message for everyone involved in the project is that a family hub is a temporary stop for families in need. Our goal from day one is to work intensively to help families find a secure home.
“We will support families every day to progress and leave homelessness behind and we are working with property owners and estate agents to identify and secure new housing opportunities in the city to help provide pathways out of homelessness.”