Peter McVerry Trust publishes Annual Report for 2021
Peter McVerry Trust, the national housing and homeless charity, published its annual report for 2021 in Dublin today. The report was launched by Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien TD, at the charity’s latest social housing project in Rathmines.
The report shows that Peter McVerry Trust worked with over 10,000 people in 2021, an increase of almost 30% on the previous year. The charity which is now active in 28 local authority areas has said the year was marked by the ongoing expansion of Housing First, the response to Covid-19 and the increase in its own housing delivery and tenant support services.
Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust said the charity remained solution focused, “Throughout 2021 we remained focused on the delivery of practical responses and solutions to the needs of people impacted by homelessness. Last year we supported people right across Ireland and we took important steps to ramp up our Housing First work and our own social housing programme.”
Housing First and Housing Delivery
“Last year marked 10 years of Peter McVerry Trust delivering the Housing First model in Ireland, an approach that provides housing and intensive wraparound supports to people experiencing homelessness. By the end of last year, we had 680 active Housing First tenancies across 14 local authorities and we continued to grow the number of homes we offered for Housing First to other local authorities beyond our contracted areas.”
“Our efforts to grow Housing First go hand in hand with our social housing delivery programme and we delivered almost 200 new social homes in 2021, our best year so far. Delivering high quality housing and providing people with the key to their own home and the supports to sustain their tenancies is an incredibly important part of our work and an area that is the number one priority for the coming years.”
In responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, the charity helped thousands of people impacted by homelessness to self-isolate and supported over 1,500 vulnerable participants to be vaccinated by the end of 2021.
Pat Doyle, the charity’s CEO, said “In 2021, Peter McVerry Trust continued to respond to the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic and supported the most vulnerable in our society. Our targeted and efficient response to Covid-19 actually provided a hidden opportunity to deliver vital supports to vulnerable people, some of whom have not engaged with homeless services for years. The stability offered by placements at Covid-19 facilities gave staff time to work with people on the issues that led them to homelessness and allowed rapid access to treatment for mental health or addiction issues.”
Concluding Mr Doyle thanked the public for their ongoing support “While Peter McVerry Trust often gets the credit for the work that we do it’s important to recognise that our work is funded mainly by the State and its agencies. However, the public, through direct donations, play a huge role in enabling us to do more and respond immediately to new challenges and I’d like to thank our supporters for their generosity.”
