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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Damien Edgar

Call for city centre hub after latest Belfast street death

A leading councillor in the fight against homelessness is to write to Executive Ministers to highlight the need for a city centre hub to help those vulnerable through rough living and addiction.

Paul McCusker has been advocating for those in crisis for 10 years and said intervention at government level was needed urgently.

It follows the discovery of the body of a woman in her 20s on Academy Street on Sunday morning.

Read more: PSNI attend scene of sudden death in Belfast city centre

Belfast Live understands the woman was not homeless but was a vulnerable person.

"I think it's another tragic death on the streets and given the increasing numbers of people dying on our streets, we need to get a response from government," said Paul McCusker.

"The vulnerability on our streets is probably the highest it's ever been.

"We need better access to addiction services, better resources for preventing overdoses, better drugs treatment services and things like dual diagnosis as well.

"And what we need is urgent intervention from both local and central government to look at better ways and getting more resources onto the streets to support those most vulnerable essentially.

The woman is believed to have been the 14th person to die on Belfast's streets in just a matter of months and her death followed soon after a 19-year-old homeless woman died on North Street in city centre last Thursday.

Paul is calling for a bigger vision on how to tackle the intertwine problems of the homeless, mental health and addiction crises.

He has written to Ministers to ask them to act following this latest death.

"A night-time homeless connection or communication hub, so there'd be a central hub in Belfast that all the services would be connected to, that would cover the whole of the city so that's there's better communication and linkup between the services," he said.

"The public are very angry and upset when they hear of another death and there's a lot of devastated families too, that have lost their loved ones.

"Belfast is quite often good when there is a tragedy and there is usually a good response, but we need more input from central government, to step in and prevent further deaths.

"We need them to ensure there are adequate resources, because currently there just isn't."

He paid tribute to the young woman who had lost her life and offered his condolences to her grieving family.

"Within the people who work on the streets, everyone is devastated for this young girl and her family and it doesn't bear thinking what her family are going through.

"It's about giving them space and time and certainly our thoughts and prayers are with this lady's family."

READ NEXT:

'Contingency plans' being made as Belfast's only homeless hostel for women set to close

Homeless in Belfast - men and women who have slept on the streets open up about their experiences

Call for action on homeless and addiction crisis after six deaths on Belfast's streets in two weeks

Belfast foodbank warns level of need a "disaster" as demand for support surges

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