Housing Minister under pressure as more than 8,000 homeless

The Government has come under renewed pressure to bring in radical measures to tackle the housing crisis after the number of homeless burst past the 8,000 mark in July.

The latest figures show 8,160 homeless people in the State in July, including 2,973 children. A total of 1,429 families were homeless.

The figures show a 26% increase in the number of homeless families in a year, a rise of 27% in homeless children in the same period and a 296% increase in the number of homeless children in just three years.

Reacting to the figures, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said “resources are not an obstacle to the urgent efforts required”, while admitting that the record homeless figures indicated the scale of the challenge.

He met with some of the housing and homeless NGOs yesterday and this morning will hold a Housing Summit in Dublin’s Custom House attended by the chiefs executive of the 31 local authorities, alongside minister of state Damien English.

Former Dublin lord mayor Christy Burke said there will be a protest at the event over some groups being excluded from the discussions.

The Local Government Management Association (LGMA), formed by the chief executives of the county and city councils, said the issue of vacant properties would be on the agenda today.

LGMA assistant chief executive Fearghal Reidy said: “We are doing everything we can to meet the targets.” He said the next local government performance indicators, due to be published in the next month, would likely show a reduction in the turnaround times for refurbishing void properties.

However, homeless support groups and opposition parties said urgent action was needed to tackle the crisis.

Simon Communities spokeswoman Niamh Randall said the private rental market is not working and there needed to be immediate solutions, including full rent certainty, linking rents to the Consumer Price Index, greater security of tenure, closing loopholes in relation to evictions, and increasing, monitoring and adjusting rent supplement/HAP payments regularly.

Focus Ireland advocacy director Mike Allen said the figures needed to mark “a line in the sand” and added: “We’re never going to tackle this problem if we don’t reduce the flow of people coming into homelessness.”

Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said the Government “hasn’t a clue how to tackle this crisis”, and urged the minister to consider a Focus Ireland suggestion to amend the Residential Tenancies Act that would limit the circumstances in which a landlord could seek vacant possession of a property they intend to sell.

June Tinsley, Barnardos head of advocacy, warned of the longer-term effects of the crisis.

“We see first-hand the devastating and long-term impact that being homeless has on a child’s health and development, not to mention their ability to learn,” she said.