Almost 7,500 people now homeless
Focus Ireland said new government figures for February show a record total of 7,421 people who are homeless — a 28% increase over the previous 12 months.
The charity that works with people who are homeless or at risk of losing their homes has warned that the crisis will deepen without a strategy to tackle family homelessness.
It wants a “cast-iron’ commitment that no family should be homeless for more than six months.
Minister for Housing and Planning Simon Coveney said the latest homelessness figures were “disappointing, but not unexpected”.
“February’s figures are a stark reminder of the difficulties we face in dealing with the homelessness problem. But we must continue to work hard and redouble our efforts,” he said.
Focus Ireland says the national total shot up by 254 from the 7,167 people homeless in January — an increase of more than nine people every day in February.
It blames successive governments for failing to tackle the ongoing homeless crisis. The response had been led by a series of ‘halfway house’ policies.
The commitment to 47,000 social houses, the repair and leasing scheme, and the vacant homes initiatives all fell short because they were aimed at keeping all the parties happy.
Director of advocacy at Focus Ireland, Mike Allen, said the policy approach to lead with market incentives in a whole range of areas was mixed up with good intentions. He suggested directly funding local authorities to build the new housing themselves, and to penalise people who did not rent out their empty houses or hoarded building land.
“We also need to introduce binding legislation to fully protect tenants against financial institutions and vulture funds who are foreclosing on buy-to-let properties.”
Focus Ireland knew the single largest cause of homelessness was now property being taken out of the rental market because landlords were selling up or using the property for their own families.
“The Government voted down legislation last year to stop evictions of tenants from buy-to-let properties that are being sold — Fianna Fáil abstained on this vote. We believe that if that legislation had been passed as many as 20 of the families who became homeless in February would still have a home,” he said.
The Simon Communities in Ireland said the Government must prioritise implementation of Rebuilding Ireland: An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness.
