THE DUBLIN SIMON community has welcomed an agreement between Dublin City Council and Nama to provide centralised emergency accommodation for homeless families.
The Irish Times reported this morning that DCC is to acquire a Nama-controlled hotel to provide a minimum of 70 places for families who have been living for months in hotels.
Dublin Simon say however that the move must be acknowledged as a short-term remedy and not a solution to the problem of homelessness.
DCC and homeless charities have this year reduced the number of families being accommodated in temporary hotel places from about 186 to 154 in May.
“We welcome any initiative that eases hardship for vulnerable and struggling families and single people, and would hope that both the educational and health needs are taken into consideration when being accommodated in hotels,” Sam McGuinness of the Dublin Simon Community said today.
“This however should only be a crisis intervention measure, and suitable move on accommodation must be identified for people as soon as possible.”
Dublin Simon say that there are a lot of things being done in the medium term, many of them by Government, that need to be supported.
In particular, McGuinness points towards work that is ongoing with developers in the refurbishment of vacant houses:
Yesterday the minister for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan, TD, allocated €5.3million to refurbish 325 long-term vacant council homes across the Dublin region to provide adequate and affordable accommodation to families on the housing list. Dublin City Council also made the announcement that it will address the city’s housing shortage by resuming its partnership with property developers and providing social and private houses on council lands.
“While we welcome these two measures, we need further rapid responses to address the frightening homeless and housing crisis,” he added.
First published 1.10pm
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