Steps to solve Ireland’s deep housing crisis still to be made

As the festive season draws to a close, I am reminded of a recent interview on Morning Ireland with Mike Allen, director of advocacy at Focus Ireland.

It was not so much his restatement of the continued escalation in homelessness among families in 2015, but his declaration that more than 1,000 children under eight years of age are currently homeless across the country.

Moreover, his assertion that “there was nothing on the horizon which would lead you to believe that they won’t be homeless next Christmas” has to be the ultimate indication of a housing policy which has failed to deliver on its commitment to “enable all households access good quality housing appropriate to household circumstances and in their particular community of choice”.