7,000 people without homes: Local authorities must do more

THE report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), that shows that almost one in five people enduring homelessness have a job, is an indictment of our dog-eat-dog work environment and the excesses of the property market.

That 27% — 1,846 — of the near 7,000 people without a roof over their heads are children challenges our society in a very different way — especially as public discourse resonates so very loudly with assertions of the rights of children born or otherwise.

Huge efforts are being made to resolve this crisis but this is as much a market problem as it is a housing problem.

Equally, it is hard not to hope, or at least think, that if local authorities had a more direct role in resolving it, one that is not dependent on making a profit, that a good proportion of the near 7,000 people without any home might have a brighter future. We can, as the school report might say, do better.