A WEST Belfast homeless support centre has called on local residents to "come and talk to us" about their concerns, ahead of a planned protest this evening.

It comes as the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) plan to protest outside the Welcome Organisation building in Townsend Street at 5.30pm on Friday. The party are calling on local residents to join them and demand a relocation of the Welcome Organisation.

In response to the planned protest, Jo Daykin-Goodall, Chief Executive of the Welcome Organisation, stressed the importance of the homeless charity's work.

“The people we support are the most vulnerable homeless people in Belfast – they are the victims of wider societal issues that are affecting people across Belfast, Northern Ireland and further afield," she explained.

"People affected by homelessness come to our Drop-in Centre to access basic needs like food, clothes and showers but also crucially to avail of potentially life-saving support on housing, benefits and help to access health care. 

"While some of the people who use our services suffer from poor mental health and addictions, it is important to stress that not everyone who is homeless has an addiction and not everyone who has an addiction is homeless. The societal problems are wide and complex, as are the reasons why people become homeless." 

Jo said the housing stock in Belfast "is on its knees" and added that Belfast has a serious drug problem with an increasing number of people also suffering from poor mental health. 

"Between April 2022 and March 2023 nearly 16,000 households presented as homeless (15,965) and over 10,000 were accepted as homeless. This is not just people sleeping rough, but people sofa surfing, living in temporary accommodation, living in poor conditions, and living at risk of violence in the home. 

"Within that number, there has been a significant increase of people becoming homeless due to a loss of rented accommodation. People are struggling to pay rents and this is a clear sign of the impact of the ongoing cost of living crisis. 

"There is also a worrying increase in the number of women affected by homelessness. In the past year 2,690 single females presented as homeless to the Housing Executive. 

"The growing number of homeless people, and a serious lack of investment in addiction and mental health services and homelessness services, is the real crisis here. The people who we support across our services are victims of a broken society and protests like this only serve to re-victimise them. 

"While we understand the concerns of local residents, we would encourage them to come and talk to us; we have made it very clear that our doors are always open to them.

"We would ask everyone to support our calls for more investment into homelessness services, addiction and mental health services. These are the real issues that need to be addressed.” 

The Workers' Party has condemned the planned protest and is urging the organisers to call it off.

“If the organisers of this protest really want to confront the problems of homelessness they should start focusing on its causes and consequences," the party said in a statement.

"They should join with others who want to tackle its root causes and they should offer their public support for those organisations currently working with, supporting and caring for the hundreds of homeless people in this city."

A spokesperson for the IRSP said the protest was organised "on the back of many meetings with the management of the Welcome Centre over the past eight/nine years".

The spokesperson added: "There has been a political narrative created from this protest by others, attempting to make ourselves and residents be seen as leading a campaign of intimidation against the homeless and those who suffer from drug addiction. This couldn't be further from the truth of course.

"The IRSP, along with the local residents have been calling for relocation since 2019. We know this is the only outcome which will serve both users of the Welcome Centre and local residents.

"We have put alternative and more suitable locations for such a facility to the management of the Welcome Centre and also to elected reps and the Housing Executive but to no avail.

"This afternoon's protest will be a peaceful protest with residents' voices being heard loud and clear. They want to be able to let their kids out to play in their own streets, they want to have no fear in leaving their own homes after a certain time of the day.

"Tonight will be the start of the campaign, led by the residents, to have the Welcome Centre relocated to a more suitable location."