Homeless families 'not living on the street' but in State-provided accommodation, says minister

Social protection Minister Heather Humphreys said that the key measure to solve the housing crisis would be to increase the supply of homes. File picture

Homeless families are "not living on the street" and are being provided with some level of accommodation, Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has insisted.

At Leaders’ Questions on Wednesday, Ms Humphreys said that the key measure to solve the housing crisis would be to increase the supply of homes, while saying “no option” is off the table.

Her response came after Labour leader Ivana Bacik raised the ongoing crisis, saying that the latest homelessness figures will be released this coming Friday.

In particular, Ms Bacik raised one case of a couple trying to access the Cost Rental Tenant in Situ Scheme, after living in the rental sector for 20 years. 

Ms Bacik said that, while eligible for the scheme, they are now facing homelessness due to the Housing Agency refusing to allow the sale of the house.

In response, Ms Humphreys said that there is “no stone that will be left unturned in terms of housing”, while claiming the government is making progress.

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On homelessness, Ms Humphreys did accept that there were too many families in emergency accommodation, but that people became homeless for a variety of reasons.

“Context is important, families become homeless all the time for various reasons,” Ms Humphreys said.

“The most common reason is relationship breakdown and we can never stop that from occurring but we will continue to help families to avoid entering into emergency accommodation and help them exit as soon as possible if they do.

“It’s important to say that when we talk about homeless families, they’re not living on the street. The State is providing these families with accommodation and it’s something we continue work on.”

In response, the Dublin Bay South TD said that the existing targets for housebuilding are too low, with promises of increasing these figures by the autumn being “far too late”.