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Dublin has the highest number of adults and children in emergency accommodation, with 7,320 adults and 3,366 children accessing emergency accommodation as of the end of December.
Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne has called on the new Housing Minister James Browne to introduce emergency measures to tackle homelessness.
Hearne is the Social Democrats’ housing spokesperson and remarked that while the “slight reduction is welcome, the numbers remain unacceptably high”.
“Over the course of last year, 1,764 new families were left with no option but to enter emergency homeless accommodation,” said Hearne.
“The new programme for government commits to ending homelessness by 2030, but does not provide any real detail as to how this will be achieved.
Hearne said that a “tsunami of evictions and ever-rising rents is contributing to the human catastrophe of homelessness”.
“We need to see an emergency response from the new Government, starting with the reinstatement of a no-fault evictions ban to keep those on the verge of being made homeless in their homes, as well as a significant increase in funding and resources for preventive services and supports,” said Hearne.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin meanwhile said the “marginal decreases” were to be expected.
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“This seasonal drop in homeless numbers has occurred for the last number of years as family and friends do everything they can to keep loved ones from spending Christmas in emergency accommodation,” said Ó Broin.
However, he noted that when compared to a year previous, homelessness is up close to 12%, while child homelessness is up 14% in the last year.
“These included a new homeless strategy to end homelessness by 2030 and an increase in social housing output to 15,000 new builds a year,” said Ó Broin.
He added: “Unfortunately, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ignored the Homeless Policy Group’s recommendations.
“As a result, the ‘new’ government looks set to preside over ever greater increases in homelessness this year.”
Ó Broin called on the new Housing Minister to “urgently implement the Homeless Policy Group’s recommendations in any new housing plan”.
Elsewhere, Focus Ireland also cautioned the decrease “needs to be seen against a stark 12% increase in overall homelessness over the last year, with a 14% increase in children who are homeless”.
Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said the ten-point plan set out last month by the Irish Homeless Policy Group “should be a template for the homeless section of the new Housing For All plan that the Minister is preparing”.
Meanwhile Ber Grogan, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland, remarked that the “figures do not fully reflect the scale of the homelessness crisis, as it is common to see a temporary dip in numbers in December”.
“Many people experiencing homelessness find short-term respite with family or friends over the Christmas period, but this does not change their long-term reality.
“The crisis remains severe, and unfortunately we expect to see the numbers rise again in the coming months.”
She added that with a new Government and Housing Minister in place, “now is the time for decisive action”.
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