Huge spike in demand for Derry homeless services with mental health, polysubstance use and more women and young people

The homelessness charity today releases findings of research commissioned to look at homelessness and its interaction with substance use in the last 10 years – particularly in the Public Health Agency-funded low threshold harm-reduction service in the North West.

The report marks the tenth anniversary of the running of the service by a consortium led by Depaul, working with Arc Solace and First Housing.

Depaul’s Foyle Haven service has seen user visits increase year-on-year and in 2023 saw 11,404 user visits, almost double that of the previous year.

Speaking to the ‘Journal’ ahead of the launch Deirdre Canavan, Senior Services Manager at Depaul NI, said: “Over the ten years we would have seen quite a significant increase right across the consortium.

"Between 2019 and 2024 that service has supported over 1,776 individuals in the Western Trust area. Collectively that equates to about 151 per cent of the target that we were set for that period so the demand just continues to grow.”

The report highlights a shift in the nature of substance misuse with more clients progressing from alcohol to drugs, particularly, cocaine.

"Alcohol remains a substance service users are using but it is more difficult now because there is a wider number of a lot of those drugs [opioids, pharmaceuticals). Cocaine, heroin and benzodiazepines, stimulants and cannabis in recent years, is definitely something we can see year-on-year,” Ms. Canavan observed.

In 2023, staff administered 135 doses of naloxone – a drug used to reverse opioid overdoses.

"Naloxone reduces the effects of an opioid overdose but because people are taking such a wide range of substances you can't always be certain if the overdose is in relation to or as a result of an opioid so we would administer the naloxone. It saves lives. It absolutely does.

"Across the consortium in the last 18 months we've administered, I think, up on 170 separate occasions. That's just between First Housing, Arc Solace and Foyle Haven. That’s quite significant.

"Synthetic opioids are more potent now than they would have been previously. They are really deadly. You just don't know what you are dealing with a lot of the time,” said Ms. Canavan, who believes the anti-overdose drug should be issued to all front-line services including the PSNI.

Many individuals presenting at Foyle Haven will have their own tenancy, however, they are often in temporary emergency accommodation.

The report refers to the displacement of Belfast-based clients to already overstretched services in Derry and elsewhere.

Depaul staff have witnessed an increase in presentations from people who have been placed in temporary emergency accommodation in Derry.

“That happens on a regular basis. The numbers that are coming through to us are really significant and have increased dramatically.

"We are hoping the Housing Executive is looking at a means of reducing that stress and the need for people to move from one town, city or area to another because once you are away from your social network, your family, and support networks it becomes even more difficult and most of those individuals would present at our door.

"They may need, for example, a change of clothes, access to shower facilities, or just a hot meal and the nutrition they get from that is essential.”

When the low-threshold harm reduction service was launched it was set a target of working with 224 individuals a year.

“We far exceed that year-on-year,” said Ms. Canavan. “We are doubling those figures very often in some years. If you take Foyle Haven alone we saw an increase in Foyle Haven Day Centre. We were providing over 8,200 meals in 2023. That's an increase of 20 per cent.

"Those are people that are coming in who are either living in non-standard accommodation, that could be B&Bs, they could be moving around from place to place. That's a 20% increase on the year before.

"If those numbers keep increasing and we don't provide the right housing to support those individuals then all of these mental health issues, a deterioration in physical health, substance use, they are all going to increase.”

Both Ms. Canavan and David Carroll, Chief Executive of Depaul, have called for essential homelessness services to be put on a sustainable footing.

"We did get better stability with our funding over the last few years, however, there is now consideration of cuts but that's across the piece,” said Ms. Canavan. “We don't know how that may impact on us but right now the service is operating at full capacity and what we need to see is core, sustainable investment and funding into the likes of Foyle Haven.”

Mr. Carroll concurred: “Depaul is deeply concerned at the devastating and grave impact that the proposed budget cuts will have on homeless support services.

"We are extremely concerned that any cut to funding will lead directly to increased rates of overdosing and ultimately increased deaths amongst the group of individuals who use the service on a daily basis.”

Currently Foyle Haven is piloting a new Homeless Health Peer Advocate programme. It is modelled on schemes in Dublin and Cork and in the past 10 months has made a real difference.

Individuals who have experienced homelessness, complex needs and addiction and who have achieved a greater degree of stability in their lives mentor people undertaking that journey today.

“It is having a really positive effect because those individuals, those peer-advocates, can go and do what it says on the tin, advocate for people, because sometimes people aren't able to articulate what they need,” said Ms. Canavan.

She called for homelessness and health related issues to be prioritised, warning the human cost will be ‘staggering if we don’t get this right’.

“It's a basic human right to have housing,” she said.

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