Emergency Shelter
The aim of our emergency services is to support our residents to move on to and to be able to sustain long-term accommodation. We have several measures in place to ensure a quality, wraparound support service is provided to enable people to move out of homelessness. We provide the following wraparound supports for individuals staying with us:
- Accommodation and food
- Supportive counselling
- Assessment
- Referral to appropriate treatment programmes and community services
- Assistance to obtain identification
- Budget/financial planning
- Service referral
- Assistance with housing search
If you require emergency shelter accommodation in Co. Louth the Homeless Office can be contacted on 1890 202 303 or out-of-hours on 087 418 6000.
The Gatehouse
The Gatehouse, our crisis shelter, aims to act as the first step on the path out of homelessness. The service has 10 beds and provides warm and welcoming space for people who come to our door, some of whom will have spent some time on the street. Residents are provide with food, a warm bed and a safe place to stay and fresh clothing or shoes if needed.
Once they are in our shelter, individuals have a guaranteed bed for up to three months as long as they are working on their plan for the future and meeting the expectations set out for all Gatehouse residents. The teams working at The Gatehouse aim to built up trust and respect with the residents in the hopes of helping them on the path out of homelessness.
The Community House
Individuals who are ready to move on from the crisis shelter are provided with opportunity to transition to the 24/7 Community House where they can engage with a more stable environment. The Community House has twenty beds. Most rooms are singles and some are doubles, but no room has more than two beds. The rooms are clean and bright which we hope goes a long way towards making our residents feel safe.
The teams support residents to re-learn the skills they need to live independently. Following an average stay of six months, they may then be ready to move out to the wider community to transitional housing or longer term social housing options and/or private rented accommodation.