Social housing must not suffer from cutbacks

THE Government was warned yesterday that huge cuts in public spending cannot be detrimental to social housing programmes.

The housing and homeless charity, Focus Ireland, was marking the 10th anniversary of its founding at an event in Limerick.

Focus Ireland chief executive Joyce Loughnan said: “We welcome the Government’s comments it will act to protect the vulnerable at this time and our message is these cuts must not hit the most marginalised in our society. Exact details of where these cutbacks will be made are still very vague so it’s vital the Taoiseach lives up to his government’s word and that these cuts do not hit the most vulnerable people when they are made in the coming months.”

Ms Loughnan added that some people are already talking of the “hard choices” that will have to be made in the budget and beyond. She said experience has shown this usually means taking the soft option of cutting spending on housing, health and support services which hit the most marginalised sections of society the hardest.

She pointed out the Government had signed up to an agreed target of ending long-term homelessness by 2010, but this target will not be met in the current climate.

“Focus Ireland maintains this does not have to be the case and there is now an economic — as well as a moral — imperative for the state to invest in social housing programmes to help steer the economy through choppy waters while also providing housing for the most vulnerable families and individuals in our society,” said Ms Loughnan

House waiting lists currently stand at more than 43,000 households, compared with 27,427 in 1996.

Ms Loughnan said rents rose sharply during this time. “The effect has been a continued and exacerbated lack of access to secure/suitable housing for vulnerable people and an increase in the number of people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. There are now up to 5,000 people who are homeless in Ireland at any one time compared to 2,700 in 1991.”

President Mary McAleese officially opened Focus Ireland’s services at Parnell Place in Limerick ten years ago.

The charity has provided over 250 homes around the country since 2005 and now provides homes for nearly 550 families in Dublin, Limerick, Waterford and Cork and Sligo.