THE MECHANISMS WHICH are used by local authorities to allocate social housing to those in need of a home need to be improved in order to address the rising number of people who are homeless, according to the Taoiseach.
Speaking this morning to reporters in Paris, Simon Harris said local authorities and Government need to ask if more can be done to better prioritise those waiting to be provided with social housing, particularly for those who are homeless.
While he said he respects the fact that the responsibility lies with the local authorities themselves, Harris added that he believes those who are homeless, or those who are homeless with children, must be better prioritised on housing lists.
The Taoiseach made the remarks in the context of last month’s homelessness figures, announced yesterday, where a record number of 14,303 people had accessed emergency accommodation.
According to the latest figures from the Department of Housing, 9,899 single adults and 4,404 children were in emergency accommodation in June.
Charities and agencies, such as the Simon Community and Focus Ireland, have long campaigned for better investment in social housing so that the number of people without a home, which has increased every month this year, begins to decrease.
Harris said today that he has met with Focus Ireland to explore the issue and is “very keen” to see how can social housing be better allocated in Government’s updated housing initiatives in the coming months.
“We’re actually, obviously, seeing a very significant increase in housing supply, we’re seeing a very significant increase in social housing, but we’re also seeing homeless figures rise,” the Taoiseach said.
Government has aimed to build 9,300 social homes this year, but a quarterly updated published this month revealed that the just 158 social homes were built in the first three months of this year.
The Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has claimed, on a number of occasions, that it’s important to note that the majority of housing projects are completed in the first half of each year.
However, yesterday Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Brion and the Social Democrats’ housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan said that the homelessness figures showed that not enough was being done to ramp up these builds.
Both TDs called on Government to take immediate action.
CEO of Dublin Simon, Catherine Kenny, had a similar call and accused Government of a “lack of progress and action” regarding the ongoing homelessness crisis.
“It is not enough to say that housing is a challenge in this country – we all know it is – the question is what the government intends to do about it in the months before we go to the polls. The time for action is now,” she said.
The Taoiseach said today: “Homelessness is a painful reality in Ireland – as it is in many, many countries – we are working to make progress. We are open to doing more and we are open to new ideas as well.
“And certainly, the conversations I had with agencies and charities that are working with homeless people in recent days has been helpful in relation to that.
“I do think the allocation of social housing is one area that does deserve consideration by local authorities and I’m happy to work with them on that,” Harris added.
Additional reporting by Sinéad O’Carroll in Paris.
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