Government budgets have left homeless charities 'permanently on edge of crisis'

It comes after the news last Friday that Ireland had hit a new record number of people in emergency accommodation at the end of July, at 14,429 people. File photo Leah Farrell/ © RollingNews.ie

The Government has been accused of obscuring the “enormous cost” of its failure to reduce homelessness, as charities working in this sector are left “permanently on the edge of crisis”.

Speaking at the launch of Focus Ireland’s annual report, CEO Pat Dennigan said that the Government wasn’t reflecting the true costs of homelessness in recent budgets and that he hoped next month’s budget for 2025 “will make a realistic provision for homelessness services”.

It came after the news last Friday that Ireland had hit a new record number of people in emergency accommodation at the end of July, at 14,429 people. This included 4,401 children and was a 12% rise on the same month last year.

“For instance, the 2023 Budget included a provision of €215m for homeless services,” Mr Dennigan said. “But the final cost was nearly €316m. In the 2024 Budget, the €316m was ignored, and a provision was made for €242m which was represented as an increase on the previous levels.

“The impact of that is obscure the enormous cost of the Government’s failure to reduce homelessness, but it’s also the effect of leaving the sector permanently on the edge of crisis.” 

The Focus Ireland CEO made the comments as the charity outlined its work in 2023, which saw a 12.5% rise in the number of people it supported, from 16,000 to 18,000.

It also said that it helped 1,757 households either to keep their home or support their exit from homelessness, an increase of 10% from 2022. It also said that 450 adult-only households were supported out of homelessness, along with 486 families and 186 young people.

Mr Dennigan added that, as a society, we should “demand more” and that it was important that during a “deepening human crisis, we do not become overwhelmed or lose heart”.

This was echoed by Focus Ireland founder and life president Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, who said: “We must all take greater action to stop this crisis."

'I got a second chance'

One of those speaking at the launch was a man who became a tenant at a new property developed by Focus Housing last year. “My journey with Focus Ireland has been long, actually over 20 years,” Al Leahy said. 

“I have been both a service user and externally a support worker for 15 years in residential and community addiction services as an accredited drugs counsellor, so I’ve seen both sides of the coin.” 

Mr Leahy said he became homeless in his 30s and had no education or living skills but was supported by the charity to rebuild his confidence and self-esteem, and progress in education.

A native of Finglas in Dublin, he said that childhood trauma came to the fore again in 2018 as he also cared for his mother who has since passed away. “I’d be driving to work, I’d start bawling out of nowhere,” he said. “I lost everything again. My world came crashing down.” 

But this changed when he got the opportunity to become a tenant in a Focus Ireland-run development in Dublin.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Mr Leahy said. “I was like a child at Christmas with a new bike. In the last 12 months, my life has taken off again. I got a second chance at the next 20 years [of my life].”