Erradicating homelessness: This is what the charities would do
The lack of available revenue funding for new developments is an ongoing barrier to achievement of the Government targets of ending long-term homelessness and sleeping rough by 2016.
We need a housing-led approach which makes appropriate housing available to people as quickly as possible once they become homeless. The housing should be coupled with supports tailored to each person’s needs to address the issues that often cause or accompany homelessness. These include low income, debt burden, poor health and well-being, loneliness and isolation, problematic drug and/or alcohol use, poor education, and long-term unemployment.
We need an urgent increase in housing supply, both public and private. We need to make better use of existing stock and bring voids (empty units) back up to standard and into use. The local authorities need to meet their targets in relation to providing social housing units and renovating voids.
We would like to see rent control/rent certainly within tenancies to protect people from rapidly rising rents with limited security of tenure. There is also a need to implement a Social Rental Agency models nationally.
The Social Housing Strategy does not have a response to meet their needs. It is a long-term plan that will take 18 months to two years to begin to deliver. That is just too long to wait for over 1,500 people stuck in emergency accommodation in Dublin each night.
We welcome investment in social housing announced as part of Budget 2015, however this will only deliver 7,500 new homes next year, which will address the housing need of only 8% of those on the housing waiting list.
There are nearly 90,000 people on the social housing waiting list.
We need greater reform and regulation of the private rented sector to ensure greater security of tenure and rent certainty so people can begin to see the private rented sector as their home and not just transition between social housing or owner occupancy.
The Government must raise rent supplement to match market rents. It failed to do so in the budget and more have become homeless. The Government also needs to regulate rents to provide better protection for tenants and tax breaks for landlords as any system must work for them, too.
Focus Ireland welcomed the €2.2bn social housing investment over the next three years and the recent launch of the Government’s Social Housing Strategy. However, it will take 18 months until the first homes are delivered. Until then we need an effective short-term strategy to tackle the current crisis in rough-sleeping and family homelessness. This must include better access to affordable housing.
This will help to prevent and combat homelessness for many people. Especially the growing numbers homeless purely for economic reasons.”
We believe in a housing-first strategy but, in the short term, we need to add emergency beds. We are looking at bringing in an extra 30 emergency beds ourselves before Christmas and, jointly with Focus Ireland, bringing in another 30 beds, and the Government is going to have to fund them. A ramping-up of emergency beds is needed so when the houses come on line [under the Housing Strategy], it is imperative that some go to the homeless.
Depaul believes that there is a need to increase the affordable housing supply and decrease in the private rent levels.
Cuts to funding for Depaul is resulting in restrictions to service provision, in direct contrast to an increase in demand for services. There are huge issues for us in terms of moving people into housing in the community due to a lack of housing, meaning that we cannot resettle people into the community.
More social housing is needed generally in Galway City, with over 3,500 households on the social housing waiting list. A proportion of all social housing lettings each year need to be ringfenced for people who are homeless.
An overhaul of the operation of RAS and long-term leasing is also necessary if these schemes are to play a role into the future in meeting social housing need. The current shortage of move-on housing — there is a shortage of all forms of accommodation — is making it extremely difficult to free up beds in emergency and transitional accommodation to help safeguard against people having to sleep rough.
Private rented accommodation is in short supply and rents are not affordable; rent supplement cap limits are too low and only a very small number of landlords are willing to accept tenants on rent supplement in our experience.
While there are many reasons for rough sleeping, one major cause is blockages in temporary supported accommodation. Many people, who are ready to move on and live independently are prevented from doing so because of a lack of move-on accommodation and are thus blocking beds for people in need of supported accommodation.
Rent allowance needs to be increased in line with unfettered rising rents so that if accommodation is available it can be accessed. Moreover, the reduced social welfare payments to those under 25 needs to be reversed .
Replicate the Dublin rent supplement protocol beyond Dublin. This model assists people in private rented accommodation, with a helpline, a case by case appraisal of rent supplement, and close statutory-voluntary collaboration to the counties adjacent to Dublin (Wicklow, Kildare, Meath), with a wider rollout across the State over time
Invest in emergency services in the greater Dublin area — and in other areas of need — given the current crisis and the increasing number of families requiring emergency accommodation
Ensure an adequate supply of affordable private rented sector accommodation, of good physical quality and energy efficiency, and raise awareness of the existing rights of tenants, including security of tenure.
