People need housing, not a temporary roof over their heads

The Government must use the budget to ensure the delivery of social and affordable housing across all tenure types, writes Niamh Randall.

In 2008, when we held our first awareness raising ‘Simon Week’, we never thought that on our 10th anniversary there would be the highest numbers of men, women and children trapped in emergency accommodation since records began, now at over 8,000 people.

Instead of meeting the target to end long term homelessness and rough sleeping by 2010, not only has this target disappeared from view, the problem has worsened considerably.