Families’ plight - Homelessness

It is nigh impossible for those of us fortunate enough to have a roof over our heads to imagine the plight of families at imminent risk of becoming homeless.

As today’s front page report relates, that dire predicament is facing more than 1,000 family members in Dublin where soaring rents and the absence of more effective tenancy protection laws are to blame for putting people out on the side of the street.

Despite repeated calls from individuals and agencies involved in helping the homeless, for as long as the sheer madness of the capital’s vastly overheated housing market is allowed to continue, then the number of people under threat of becoming homeless will continue to grow exponentially.

With this Government’s policy of austerity also putting many families in peril, it behoves politicians, who know they will spend Christmas in the warmth and comfort of their own homes across the country, to take more meaningful steps to address the homeless crisis rather than merely paying lip service to the plight of families at risk. If that were to happen, it would bring some Christmas joy to families in despair.