Richard Boyd Barrett TD has said that the homeless crisis has reached such a level that there is no family accommodation at all in Dublin.
The Dún Laoghaire TD has been working with a family for the last few months who were in receipt of a Notice to Quit.
Anthony and Niamh with a 9-year-old girl and a 4 year old boy, have been looking for new accommodation for the last few months as their landlord is selling their house. Anthony works in Bray and Niamh in Sallynoggin. They could find nowhere at all within the HAP income limits and had to present themselves to the Council as homeless on Monday morning. They were offered a bedroom with two bunk beds in O’Shea’s on Gardiner Street. One bedroom for a four-person family that is more than 10 kms from their places of work is entirely inappropriate.
The family slept on a sitting room floor on Monday and Tuesday night staying in touch with the Council but there was nothing else on offer. Today there is nothing at all on offer.
Deputy Boyd Barrett said: “As bad as the housing crisis has been up until now, this is the first time that there is absolutely no emergency accommodation available in the City. We cannot go on like this. I raised the issue in the Dáil this afternoon, I have written to the Minister and to the Director of Housing in DLRCOCO but so far have no reply.
“The housing crisis became a disaster and is now a catastrophe. A couple of years ago, if a family was homeless, and there was no emergency accommodation in the county they would be allowed secure themselves hotel accommodation, that option is no longer being offered. Never in all my years of dealing with this crisis have I heard of a family of four being offered a single bedroom with two bunkbeds.
“Anthony and Niamh are not unique, we have many other cases of people facing eviction, and more languishing in homeless services for years.
“Last week the CSO reported that there were over 31,000 vacant homes in Dublin City and County, we need immediate action to bring these into use.
“On top of these, I am personally aware of significant numbers of apartments that have been sitting empty for many years and public buildings that could easily be repurposed. We have had enough of works and different plans, this situation is shameful, and we need emergency action.”
