Connect with us
Midwest Simon Family Hub Midwest Simon Family Hub

Community

Midwest Simon Family Hub service reopens services to help homeless families

Midwest Simon Family Hub has resumed operations following changes due to Covid-19.

Midwest Simon Family Hub service reopens services to help homeless families

By I Love Limerick correspondent Mary Caroline McCarthy

Midwest Simon Family Hub

Mid West Simon Community provides services to men, women, and children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness across the Midwest.


advertisement




advertisement




advertisement




advertisement




advertisement



The Midwest Simon Community Family Hub has resumed operations following changes due to Covid-19.

The Mid West Simon Community has been established in Limerick since October 2006. Mid West Simon Community provides services to men, women, and children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness across the Midwest.

They aim to support people through their journey out of homelessness by providing appropriate accommodation and care services tailored to their individual needs.

The Midwest Simon Family Hub was established by Mid West Simon Community in September 2017 in response to the effect the housing crisis was having on Limerick families.

The Midwest Simon Family Hub is a 24/7 high threshold emergency accommodation for families in Limerick City. Families are referred to the hub by the Limerick Homeless Action Team (LHAT).

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Family Hub was repurposed as a cocooning space to protect vulnerable individuals from contracting Covid-19.

In March, families staying in the Family Hub were relocated and this was repurposed into a cocooning project for men who were classified as vulnerable citizens.

The Family Hub provides temporary accommodation for up to ten families at a time. The Mid West Simon Community then supports these families in moving on to long-term permanent accommodation.

It is aimed that families will stay in the Family Hub for no longer than three to six months, but this quick move on time is not always achievable if suitable long-term accommodation is not available.

Each family receives one or two rooms, depending on the family size, with an ensuite bathroom.

The Family Hub is more suitable for families than living in hotels or hostels as they have access to cooking and laundry facilities and receive assistance in securing permanent accommodation.

The Family Hub staff includes housing and night support, resettlement workers and outreach workers.

After families have been successfully moved into long-term accommodation, the outreach workers provide tenancy support to ensure these families can sustain their tenancies and don’t return back into homelessness.

This outreach support includes budgeting advice and referrals to outside agencies in areas such as counselling and parenting support.

Mid West Simon Community’s Team Lead Agnes Carey, said, “We received ten men from a hostel who were either over 70 or had underlying health conditions so they could cocoon safely. These men have just moved out and we are glad to have returned to being a Family Hub.”

 

For more on the Mid West Simon Community, go HERE 

For more stories on the Mid West Simon Community, go HERE 

 

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.