This afternoon, the Department of Housing reported that 17,112 people were in emergency homeless accommodation in January. Of these, 5,319 were children.
Richard Boyd Barrett condemns Government normalisation of homelessness and calls for the immediate return of the eviction ban to stop more lives being damaged.
Dublin Central by-election candidate Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin called for acquisition and renovation of vacant and derelict properties to provide thousands of homes.
People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said “This afternoon we learned that 17,112 people were living in emergency homeless accommodation in January. Within that shocking figure, we know that over 5,112 children were in emergency accommodation. This is the policy failure of the era that is to the Government’s shame. The shame of it is even deeper when we see the Government trying to normalise homelessness.
“We also know that a third of those in emergency accommodation are there because they were evicted from their private rental homes. The fact is that they would not be homeless if the Government had not lifted the ban on no-fault evictions. The Government’s Residential Tenancies Bill will hike rents even more, driving more people into homelessness and exacerbating the crisis even further.
“The housing crisis needs emergency actions. The Government must reinstate the no-fault eviction ban immediately to prevent any more people being evicted into homelessness through no fault of their own, and having their lives and those of their children damaged forever”.
Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin said “Ten per cent of homeless people living in emergency accommodation are in accommodation on Gardiner Street in my constituency of Dublin Central. It is utterly shameful that they are living in emergency accommodation while surrounded by vacant and derelict properties.
“The stress and trauma that homeless people suffer is the direct result of successive Governments pursuing market-driven housing policies in which profits of developers are always prioritised over the need that people have for a home.
“There must be a sea-change in housing policy to put people’s housing needs first. For example, the Government should introduce a “use it or lose it” policy on long-term vacant and derelict properties, including a punitive €1,000 a month vacant property tax. Local authorities should acquire and renovate vacant and derelict homes and convert vacant commercial buildings to provide thousands of additional social and affordable homes.
“The housing crisis is not some sort of inevitable fact of life. It is a manufactured, Government policy driven crisis that is damaging so many lives and it cannot be tolerated any longer”.