Homeless children should be fast-tracked for housing, says ombudsman

Niall Muldoon: 'We have had missed opportunities to help homeless children.' Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

The Government’s track record of tackling child homelessness has been one of repeated missed opportunities, according to the Ombudsman for Children Dr Niall Muldoon.

Not enough is being done for homeless children and the Government needs to "up its game" and act more quickly, he said.

Dr Muldoon was speaking after he hosted an event in Leinster House to mark the recent World Children's Day.

He said: “I think we've left a lot to be desired as regards the support for those children and young people.

“If we're looking to push forward with creating social and affordable homes, we should ensure children who are homeless should be facilitated as quickly as possible.

“We should be able to care for them in the first tranche of new accommodation and we need to move forward.”

He said governments in the past have had the chance to provide social housing from the stock controlled by Nama after the crash.

“There were times when Nama owned many, many 1,000s of units that we didn't keep for these sorts of circumstances,” he said.

“I think that was a missed opportunity.

“But we certainly have to up our game now because it's very clear the impact that that's going to have on so many children in the future.”

'Hidden' homeless

There are at least 3,000 children homeless in Ireland, with charities such as Barnardos saying there could be “thousands more” who aren’t counted as they are part of Ireland’s “hidden” homeless.

These are mostly families staying in the bedrooms of families or friends, or sleeping on their floors, and — as Barnardos describes it on their website — “living in overcrowded, unsuitable or unstable accommodation”.

Dr Muldoon said:

Homeless children need to be taken out of homelessness as quickly as possible and provided with a safe, secure, stable environment from which to start their lives.

"I think there is a sense that some parts of society don't realise the pressure that children are under when they're in much more disadvantaged areas."

His comments come as the Central Statistics Office's Survey on Income and Living Conditions recently showed that the number of people living in enforced deprivation has increased from 13.8% to 17.1% in the past year.

Those worst affected were those living in one-adult households with children under 18, or who are unable to work due to long-standing health problems or who are living in rented or rent-free accommodation.