THE NUMBER OF homeless people in Dublin reached a new peak last night, according to one organisation.
The Inner City Helping Homeless group (ICHH) said they recorded 177 such individuals – whether sleeping rough or in shelters – on Thursday, up from 154 on Wednesday night.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, ICHH Director Anthony Flynn added that over the last five or six months, there hasn’t been a single occasion when that number had dropped from the night before.
It’s not just last night we’re talking about. We’ve seen a week-on-week increase, every week, for six months.Since November, we’ve seen a 100% rise in the figures.
People are talking about a tsunami coming in a year, or two years.
It’s here. The tsunami has already arrived.
In an earlier statement, the group called on the government to take immediate action on Dublin’s homelessness crisis, rejecting claims that a solution to the problem was forthcoming.
Although beds have been promised, we have seen no indication of where or even when these beds may open…Rather than talking about beds opening, actually tell us where they are.
In May, the government pledged €29.7 million as part of a plan to end homelessness by 2016.
That prediction was met with scathing criticism, however, with Fr. Peter McVerry labelling it a “hopeless fantasy.”
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