Guarantee right to housing, urge TDs

Guaranteed rights to housing, an independent inspectorate, and an end to the use of hotels for emergency accommodation are among recommendations from TDs to address the crisis of child homelessness.

The voice of the child must be central to services and solutions for families, says the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs report.

TDs behind the report, which is to be launched in the coming days and obtained by the Irish Examiner, met with support services, examined laws, and looked at new measures to help the homeless.

The latest figures show that there are more than 10,000 homeless people in this country for a seventh consecutive month, including more than 3,800 children.

TDs recommend that the Government should examine the issue of enumerating the right to housing in the Constitution, as a “matter of priority”.

The best interests of the child and their voice must also be taken into account by local authorities when providing homeless supports, says the report.

The Government should work to bring about the end of self-accommodation and the provision of emergency accommodation to families through the use of hotels and B&Bs, said TDs.

They recommend ending “the practice of accommodating homeless families in hotels and B&Bs on the basis that living in cramped living conditions has a destructive impact on the health of children. This practice should be phased out over time with a view to placing families in own-door accommodation as soon as possible.”

Other suggestions from the committee include the need to independently evaluate the suitability of family hubs for the homeless.

The Government has also been called upon to “support the establishment of an independent inspectorate of homelessness services to ensure appropriate monitoring of standards”.

Special arrangements should also be made for sick homeless children. The Government should establish a link with services whereby issues “raised by homeless parents who have children who are sick can be fast-tracked”, says the report.

It says that children living outside Dublin should have support with transport to a hospital and all-year Leap cards should be presented to children in Dublin.

The committee recommends that the Government should provide extra supports to schools to ensure they have a budget to “buy a meal or provide a clean uniform in exceptional cases for homeless children”.

Speaking ahead of the report’s release, committee member and Fianna Fáil spokeswoman on children, Anne Rabbitte, said: “Fine Gael and their Independent ministers need to spend less time on glossy launches and announcements and put its energy into the commitments made. According to Focus Ireland, three families become homeless every day.

All reports tell us that homelessness can be harmful to a child’s development — lack of space to play, nowhere to bring a friend home or do their homework. This is not normal and should never be accepted as being normal.”