Varadkar: People turning down multiple housing offers one of the reasons for homelessness

The Taoiseach was unable to give a date for when homeless figures — currently at a record high of 12,441 — will come down

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said one of the major causes of homelessness is family breakdown, as well as the number of new people arriving in Ireland seeking emergency accommodation.

The Taoiseach has said people in emergency accommodation turning down multiple offers of social housing is one of the reasons why the country's homeless figures are remaining high.

Leo Varadkar was responding to questions about the Government's Housing for All plan and its inability to give a date for when homeless figures — currently at a record high of 12,441 — will come down

At a press conference on Tuesday, the Coalition leaders and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien gave an update on the Housing for All plan for Q2 of this year, but Mr O’Brien refused to give the number of social homes delivered so far this year until he had “verified” information.

Questioned about how the Housing for All plan is working, Mr Varadkar said there are “many factors” at play and it would be “simply inaccurate” to say the Government has control over some of the issues causing homelessness to rise.

He said one of the major causes of homelessness is family breakdown, as well as the number of new people arriving in Ireland seeking emergency accommodation.

He also said he is aware of homeless people turning down housing. “It would be just simply inaccurate to say that the government has control over things like the number of family breakdowns that occur, the number of people who are new arrivals that are seeking emergency accommodation.

“I work with a lot of people in emergency accommodation in my constituency. There are a lot of people in emergency accommodation who have refused multiple offers of social housing. It’s a much more complicated picture than people would like to make it out to be,” the Taoiseach said.

He said the government will measure success and progress on things such as the number of new homes built, the number of new social housing built, the cost of housing, and the number of first-time buyers.

Housing figures

Darragh O’Brien said he did not have exact figures for the number of commencements in Q2 as his department is waiting for June’s data.

However, it’s expected that commencements in Q2 will be lower than the 7,349 commencements in the first three months of this year. Mr O’Brien said the most up-to-date figures for commencements so far this year is 12,987, but the figures for June are not yet available.

When asked on a couple of occasions about the number of social homes delivered by the Government so far this year — even a ballpark figure — Mr O’Brien wasn’t willing to do so because they’re not “verified.” The State’s annual target of new build social homes to be delivered this year is 9,100.

Mr O’Brien said the number of new homes completed in the first three months of this year was 6,750 and the data for April, May and June is not readily available yet.

On the delay to the legislation to underpin first-refusal to tenants facing eviction until the autumn, as first reported by the Irish Examiner, Mr O’Brien said it was because he wanted to make sure whatever measures he brought forward would not make the sale of a home more difficult.

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin hit out at the Government for publishing the update at the exact same time as Ryan Tubridy was being grilled before an Oireachtas Committee.

Mr Ó Broin said it is not credible for the Housing Minister to say he does not have the latest completion figures for social housing to hand.

He pointed to the fact that a Statutory Certificate of Compliance on Completion must be lodged with the local authority before the building is occupied or used. "Every home that is completed, apart from one-offs, has to have a completion cert, therefore the completion data should be available."

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He hit out at the Government for publishing the update "when the entire country's attention was fixed on RTÉ and Ryan Tubridy".

"After 11 years of Fine Gael, seven years of Fianna Fáil, and three years of Darragh O'Brien, this crisis has gone from bad to worse.

"For the Taoiseach and the Housing Minister to say that the plan is working when homelessness is at a historical high and house prices continue to rise is simply quite astonishing."

In a statement, the Government said planning permission between April and June was approved for over 2,500 homes on State lands, €104m in funding allocated to build 853 social and affordable homes at Oscar Traynor Road, and €62m in funding allocated for more than 1,000 student accommodation beds.

Mr O’Brien announced details of a €150m fund to end long-term vacancy and dereliction in towns and cities. Local authorities, when applying for the funding, have indicated that they could identify projects generating 4,850 residential units. Local authorities will receive a grant for the entire 100% cost of acquiring suitable properties identified within their communities.