Ireland facing “ticking timebomb” of older adults falling into homelessness says Hearne

Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne has described the increase in the number of older adults falling into homelessness as a “ticking timebomb” for Ireland.

The Dublin North-West TD was responding to a publication of a report by the Simon Communities of Ireland examining older people’s experiences of homelessness.

The report highlights significant gaps in policy and service implementation, with more older people becoming homeless due to structural factors and individual life-course experiences.

Hearne said, “thanks to successive Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael governments, there has been a significant increase in the number of adults living in private rental accommodation – something that was apparent in the 2022 Census.”

“This is because of their failure to deliver enough social and affordable homes or provide ringfenced funding streams for housing schemes for older people,” he asserted.

“The crisis is driven by senior citizens being forced to pay unaffordable rents as they hit pension age. If they lose their homes for any reason, this extremely vulnerable cohort find it next to impossible to source alternative accommodation due to having reduced incomes – even the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) won’t be enough.”

“This report provides further evidence of the need for a ban on no-fault evictions so vulnerable people are spared the indignity and hardship of becoming homeless later in life,” he said.

The Social Democrats TD said “government inaction is leaving the state facing another ticking timebomb of homelessness as our population ages; shamefully, older people are too often forgotten about when we talk about the housing crisis – but they must be more than just an afterthought when it comes to housing policy.”