Homelessness – Nama must offer homes

The National Asset Management Agency has badly come out of the war of words with Focus Ireland which accuses it of failing to deliver on its promise of making 2,000 housing units available for homeless people.

Nama’s claim that the charity had turned down the offer of housing has proved wrong because, as it transpires, it was the local authorities which rejected them as unsuitable.

Yet, as delegates heard at yesterday’s Focus conference, a frightening number of people are either homeless or at risk of losing their homes.

Reflecting the madness of Ireland’s housing situation, prices are soaring in Dublin while the country’s rash of ghost estates is being demolished. Instead of indulging in claim and counterclaim, Nama should make good its offer by providing Focus with housing that people can live in.