PITY THE DUBLIN City Councillor Kate O’Connell who had the temerity during the week to suggest that spending €300,000 per bed on a new homeless shelter was a bit of overkill. Out came the usual bandwagon-jumpers and mountain-builders to survey this molehill and provide expert estimates on the height of hyperbole that might be heaped upon it.
Councillor O’Connell was also roundly condemned by the inhabitants of Ivory Tower, Dublin 2 for suggesting that homelessness is a “buzz issue”, which she later clarified to mean a hot topic of the moment (as distinct from whatever else the chattering classes might have thought she meant).
Homelessness is a terrible thing, and it is a problem that we need to strive to solve. It is, however, currently a buzz political issue with real undertones of Bertie-era Sorcerers Apprentice reaction from the self righteous. Dublin’s current Lord Mayor, the indomitable Christy Burke, has been stalking the streets of the city several nights a week for many, many years looking to help those in trouble. He can speak with some authority on the subject, as can many others who have been doing similar work for a long time.
The political mood will move on
Most people in the political world currently concerned with homelessness, meanwhile, became interested in the topic when a chap died in an optically well-placed doorway close to Leinster House. Many homeless people have died in doorways over the years, but this one landed just right. I don’t believe that one life should be worth more or less than another because a press photographer can get a good angle on the shot. I also don’t believe that Miss Marple style political action, with task forces suddenly convened and iron-clad paper promises made, will solve the problem in the long run; given that the problems of homelessness are just the same old problems we’ve been failing to resolve since whenever you care to cast your eye back to.
Now, don’t get me wrong: if you’re a homeless person who got a warm bed and a hot meal over Christmas so that politicians could eat their turkey free from accusatory front page photos of cold doorway sleepers, take a second helping and the blanket. But the political mood will move on and so will the urgent attention and the seemingly bottomless will of the exchequer to solve the problem.
That was Bertie-era at its finest. Up came a problem, well, we’ve just announced a €50 million centre (but not made provision for ongoing support, alas) or set up a €20 million a year quango (we’ll always, of course, make provision to keep the wages paid there) to make it go away. For the amount of panaceas announced in the 1997-2007 period, we ought to be living in a country to make Scandinavians envious. Of course, that’s not how you solve problems in reality.
For one, making policy based on headlines and poignant photographs is usually a terrible idea. We have endless proposals for a fancy children’s hospital (which we do need) and charities to support sick children. Every year sports stars and actors and other luminaries pay homage to the sick children of Crumlin and get pages and pages of heartwarming pictures of babies sitting in Sam. And well they should, as it does great things for these kids.
Homelessness has long-term causes and consequences – there is no quick fix
But elsewhere there could be considered to be a link between the less photogenic illnesses and the attention and budget they get. Mental health services in this country are a damn disgrace, and have been for years; and even this government has several times robbed the “ring fenced” money designed to shore up services to pay for other things. HIQA releases reports condemning some of our institutions as practically Victorian in their condition and treatment of patients. But, frankly, a photo of the denizens of these places just doesn’t pull at the heart strings quite like sick kids.
I’m not saying, of course, that we need to disenfranchise sick kids. What I am saying is that the likes of Councillor O’Connell are scratching at a very pertinent itch when pointing out that sometimes we focus on “buzz issues” that existed yesterday and will still be around tomorrow when we’re onto the next public outrage fad.
An issue like homelessness has long-term causes and consequences that need to be dealt with. Indeed, very often homelessness is just the outcome of the original problem. Mental illness, drug use, alcoholism, abuse or other issues. Giving someone a bed often isn’t the panacea solution, and certainly giving them a €300,000 bed is a recipe for unsustainable funding into the future.
We need a bit of push back on the panacea merchants to societies ills. We don’t need a Christmas task force, we need actual commitment to ring fencing funding that hit to the heart of the social issues afflicting people and putting them on the streets; coherent plans backed up by political ownership and with targets set to be achieved that get to the core of the issues at play.
Big projects might grab headlines, but they rarely solve problems in totality. What is required is a long commitment to the dull and often repetitively heartbreaking work that the likes of Lord Mayor Burke have been carrying out for many years. Support for the long haul, politically and financially, will go a lot further than piling in with ridiculously expensive short term attention.
Aaron McKenna is a businessman and a columnist for TheJournal.ie. He is also involved in activism in his local area. You can find out more at aaronmckenna.com or follow him on Twitter @aaronmckenna. To read more columns by Aaron click here.
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