‘Use Nama properties for homeless’

Activists have handed an open letter to Finance Minister Michael Noonan calling on him to order the use of vacant, State-controlled, properties to assist the homeless.

Residents of Apollo House, an empty office block in Dublin city centre occupied and refitted as a shelter by the Home Sweet Home campaign before Christmas, led the petition.

The building was once used by the civil service and is now controlled by receivers after property loans were taken over by the state’s Nama.