Peter McVerry Trust wants urgent action to tackle rural homelessness

Urgent action must be taken to tackle rural homelessness as the crisis has spread far beyond urban areas, a housing charity has claimed.

The Peter McVerry Trust is calling on the Government to put an empty homes network in place and to expand homeless housing assistance payment (HAP) top-ups on a national basis.

They have put forward eight new measures to address rural homelessness, including piloting a rural Housing First programme and new multi-disciplinary homeless day services.

The latest official figures show more than 1,200 people are homeless across rural Ireland.

The Peter McVerry Trust said HAP has been crucial in securing private rental accommodation for people exiting homelessness in Dublin. It offers a significant top-up on existing HAP rates to ensure people dependent on the scheme can secure private rental accommodation at market rents.

The trust believes the scheme must be expanded nationally to both increase and accelerate the number of individuals, couples and families exiting homelessness.

The organisation, which will be providing housing and homeless services in 13 counties by the end of the year, will outline its proposals at the National Ploughing Championships today.

Pat Doyle, chief executive of the Peter McVerry Trust, said: “Over the past few years we have been engaging with an increasing number of local authorities outside of Dublin, which is a reflection of the growing need as well as our efforts to support vulnerable people.

“This expansion has seen us provide a greater number of services and an increased number of housing units in more rural counties and has also deepened our understanding of the issues people are facing across Ireland.”

The proposals also include measures to deal with long-term empty homes in rural areas and plans around better provision of housing for single people in rural towns and villages.