‘Serious gaps’ in plan for homeless
Charities and support groups warned the initiative was too vague, lacked financial guarantees and did not deal with the need for more social housing.
The strategy — The Way Home — promises to ensure that within two years no homeless person will need to sleep rough or remain in emergency accommodation for longer than six months.
Focus Ireland chief executive Joyce Loughnan said there were “serious gaps” in the initiative. “The strategy fails to prioritise the right approaches to preventing homelessness and the need for more housing. There is a lack of clarity in the document in terms of the specific actions that will be undertaken, the party responsible for each action, and the timeframe for delivery of each commitment.
“The strategy is not accompanied by any clear financial commitments. This raises doubts as to how much, if any, of it is actually achievable. We need to invest in social housing. The Government will be below its target in this area by 25,000 social housing units next year,” she said.
The Simon Community welcomed the intention to combat adult homelessness, but criticised the absence of a firm budget to underpin it, saying the initiative would be “meaningless” without an implementation plan with commitments on funding and interim targets.
The Homeless Network, said: “The key to solving the problem of homelessness is the provision of long-term housing for homeless people with the supports in place to ensure they do not fall back into homelessness. Without clear definitions and funding for support services any new strategy is at risk of failure.”
It added that the Government had cut funding for homeless services this year and not met the increased costs of vital services.
Launching the five-year initiative, Housing Minister Michael Finneran said a more detailed implementation plan would be a “priority”. He said homelessness was caused by poverty, mental illness, addiction and family issues.
He promised “adequate” access to social housing lettings, and denied the HSE frontline staff replacement freeze would undermine the strategy.
* Seven homeless people died in Dublin over Easter while five shelters were left unused or under-utilised because of an effective funding cutbacks from the HSE.
* In Dublin 1,200 people are living in emergency accommodation.
* An estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people are homeless in Ireland, with 43,000 people on local authority waiting lists, many of whom live in overcrowded or poor quality conditions.
* Official figures for Dublin indicate street homelessness increased from 104 in November 2007 to 111 in April of this year.
* 1,800 people a year become homeless in Dublin alone.
* The Simon Community has reported greater pressures on services in the past three months with increasing numbers of homeless people being turned away from emergency accommodation in Dublin and Cork.
* Two-thirds of young adults who leave care at 18 become homeless within three years, according to Focus Ireland.
