Fáiltiú Resource Centre review 1998/99.

The Fáiltiú Resource Centre was set up in July 1996 to cater to the daytime needs of homeless people, and is located on Cook Street, Dublin 8. In four years the Centre has grown from working with an average of 20 people per day to an average of 180 people per day. The services offered include counselling, settlement, information and advice, crisis intervention, personal development programme, low-threshold drop-in service and it also offers two meals per day. Fifty clients were interviewed to give an overview of the Centre's users. The statistics show that 88% of visitors were male, with an average age of 33. However there was a considerable age range, with the youngest respondent being 16 and the oldest being 58. Fifty-four of the sample were under 30. Just 2% of the sample had sat the Leaving Cert and only 8% had reached Junior Cert level. 46% had no qualifications at all. The majority of those in interviewed (58%) were living in hostels, with 16% sleeping rough. The majority (58%) had become homeless by the age of 20. Seventy percent reported health problems, with 48% having had a psychiatric assessment at some stage