New Front Door project gives hope in a housing crisis - Kilkenny Live

The front door of the Good Shepherd Centre in Kilkenny has been revamped to symbolise fresh hope for people who seek help in the housing crisis.

‘The Front Door Project’ is a new creative collaboration between staff and residents at the Good Shepherd Centre Kilkenny (GSCK). Men and women who accessed emergency accommodation at the hostel expressed how their darkest moments came as they knocked the front door of the building on Church Lane in Kilkenny. No longer able to secure private rental accommodation, or seek help elsewhere, they were in a desperate situation.

"One said to me, it was at that point he realised, he was at his lowest—no longer able to feed, clothe or house himself. That image is stark,” said CEO of the GSCK Noel Sherry.

 “We recognise that people who reach that point desperately need to feel hope. We believe that our Front Door Project symbolises that hope.  By painting the door a bright colour, it symbolises that sense of support and home for those in need.”

Noel Sherry highlighted how much harder is to be homeless and disabled. “We have a housing crisis already but when it comes to providing disabled people with an accessible home, we are failing miserably,” he said.

“If you think about it, our current lack of appropriate housing is forcing disabled people to remain in institutions, or in urban settings instead of allowing them a sense of control over their own lives. The central challenges to housing people with disabilities is more than just accessible housing, it's about transport and infrastructure, it's about health and support services availability particularly in rural settings. These are some of the core challenges. It is shameful, it is wrong and it needs to change now. The thing is, we have the power to do this across the country with the right housing capital funding and health supports in place.”

The GSCK provides services to women, men and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Service users must be over the age of 18 years and referred by the local authority. The centre supported 92 individuals to access emergency accommodation in Kilkenny in 2023, of which 38 individuals were supported exit homelessness to a home. In addition, a total of 95 new households in 2023 were helped to exit homelessness including 49 families and 46 single people across Kilkenny, Laois, Carlow and Tipperary. In Kilkenny alone eight families and 56 single people were supported to exit homelessness through the work of the centre in 2023.