No fixed address. If homeless people can’t communicate with vital services and vice versa, homelessness can become a life sentence. There are currently about 10,000 homeless people in Ireland. Approximately one-third of them are children.

“It’s almost impossible to get back on your feet without a postal address, explained homeless advocate, Glenn Gannon. “How are you going to get a job if you don’t have an address. How are you going to get an address if you don’t have a job. How are you going to get a rental allowance if you don’t have an address and a job. So it’s a crazy Catch 22 situation.”

JWT Folk and An Post, the Irish post office and Ireland’s leading mails and parcels logistics company, have solved that problem.  The partners have launched Address Point, a new kind of postal address and letter collection service to help people who are homeless or living in temporary accommodation to communicate with and use the services they need.

The new nationwide facility works with homeless charities and service providers and uses an online tool to generate an individual’s personal address instantly, with mail collection points at local post offices.

Enda Kelly, joint managing director at JWT Folk, commented, “The homelessness issue has never been as prevalent in Ireland. Only a few weeks ago it was announced that for the first time, Ireland has over 10,000 people without a home. It seems obvious to say it, but without a home, a person has no personal, secure address and without an address, that often means great difficulty getting access to reliable communications, employment, education, health services, and ironically, even housing.”

Debbie Byrne, managing director of An Post Retail, added, “As a major Irish company with world-class expertise and a deeply-connected, community-conscious body of staff, our purpose is to be a force for good, wherever we can.  The input and support of the JWT Folk team alongside the charities, the service users and providers, An Post staff and postmasters was invaluable in bringing Address Point from a good idea to an easily accessible, practical service which we hope will make life a little easier for people who need it the most.”

Credits

Agency: JWT Folk

Creative Partner: Karl Waters

Creative Director: Keith Lawler

Creative Technologist: Ed Leamy

Senior Creative: Donal O’Higgins

Chief Executive Officer: Abi Moran

Managing Director: Enda Kelly

Senior Strategic Planner: Eimear Fitzmaurice

Senior Account Manager: Simon Killeen

Producer: Eric Brindley