Council may build prefabs to house Dublin's homeless

Homeless people in Dublin could be housed in prefabs on vacant sites.

The Irish Times reports today that prefabs are one of the options being looked at to try and tackle the problem of the city's 156 homeless families.

Right now 156 families with 341 children live in Dublin hotels and the council expects to spend more than €4.5m on emergency accommodation this year.

According to the Times, the crisis has prompted the council to look at prefabs as a temporary solution.

The units would be thermo-insulated with windows and separate living, sleeping and cooking areas.

At the moment hotels are the only form of emergency accommodation for families.

"The Tánaiste, Joan Burton, said the proposal "strikes me as a little bit odd, given that the Government has spent a huge amount of resources and time in getting rid of prefabs in schools."

"I am awaiting a briefing, and I have, absolutely, no particular enthusiasm to see that policy [of prefab construction] carried out in any other area, least of all in relation to people's homes."

Meanwhile, 20 apartments in Camac Court - a former ghost estate in Inchicore, are now completed and will be available to families on housing waiting lists by the end of the month.