Call for urgent action on homelessness

A DUBLIN voluntary group has warned the new Minister of State with responsibility for housing that urgent action is needed to tackle the city’s homeless crisis.

Waterford TD Paudie Coffey took over Jan O’Sullivan’s Government planning and housing brief last week and director of Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH), Anthony Flynn, wished him luck in the role.

“He will have to get straight to work as Dublin city alone is seeing week on week increases in rough sleeper numbers,

? Flynn said.

“His predecessor Jan O’Sullivan failed to deliver and her target of eliminating home­- lessness by 2016 was unattainable.

?

ICHH say urgent action is now needed to tackle homelessness in the city, which it describes as a

“growing epidemic”.

ICHH volunteers witnessed a record number of 331 rough sleepers on the streets of Dublin earlier this month. This figure is the combined total of just two nights of ICHH outreach service.

Flynn said the figure was

“totally unacceptable

?.

“We have urged the Government week after week for a crisis committee to be installed and we hope the minister can deliver,

? he added.

Meanwhile Focus Ireland says it’s concerned that the recent Government reshuffle may be creating confusion about the housing role. It’s also calling on the Government to invest e500 million in Budget 2015 to build over 3,000 homes to tackle homelessness.

The call was made last week in the charity’s pre-budget submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform.

Mike Allen, Focus Ireland Director of Advocacy said:

“The Government must take action to urgently deliver more homes – not just more emergency accommodation – if it is to stem the rising flow of families and individuals becoming homeless.

“The Government accepted before the election that the homeless situation is an

’emergency crisis’ but we are yet to see a crisis response to this terrible situation.

“The housing crisis cannot be solved without substantial Government investment in public housing.

?

Allen said that more than one family is currently becoming homeless every day in Dublin and the number is continuing to rise.

“Last month a further 39 families became homeless in Dublin, an increase on the April and May figures,

? added.

“Almost all of these families lost their homes in the private rented sector as they couldn’t afford their rent as their rent supplement didn’t cover it. We are doing what we can but it’s really hard to move them on due to the shortage of accommodation so many are getting stuck as homeless.

?

The Government recently initiated a process to review maximum levels of rent supplement to bring them into line with recent rent hikes, but Focus Ireland say the situation is continuing to deteriorate while the review is taking place.

“The simple fact is that Government policy on rent supplement is one of the leading causes of the sharp rise of family homelessness in Ireland,

? he said.

“The Government could stop many families from losing their homes with a stroke of a pen tomorrow. It is not credible for the Government to accept the situation is at crisis point yet not change its policy on this key cause of homelessness.

?