Start to act on homelessness

Having journeyed with people who are homeless or in need since 1969, I am appalled that despite being alerted to the increase in numbers of people accessing services such as the Capuchin Day Centre, the current housing crisis has been allowed to develop and that it took until two days before an election before it reached the agenda of the Oireachtas.

We became aware of the new situation regarding homeless families in early 2013 when parents asked for take away food for their children because they had no access to food or other facilities in the evening or night time. Every day here in the Capuchin Day Centre we meet with the tragic human casualties of failed government policies and those charged with ‘cherishing all the children of the state equally. While the Government’s new found realisation that we have in fact a homeless crisis has resulted in a promise of ‘urgent action,’ in our experience we have seen precious resources being frittered away on meaningless surveys and failed action plans.

Having survived over four decades of the social situations that foster and nurture homelessness with practically no help from the government, perhaps the state could learn from our ‘Strategic Plan’ — ‘Start with what is necessary and Do what is possible’.