by Kathy Masterson
THE Mid West Simon Community has seen a huge increase in the number of families approaching its homeless services because of what’s been described as “a perfect storm” of rising rents, repossessions, and lack of housing stock.
1,700 people across the region have contacted the charity for help in the last six months.
Tracey Reddy, Mid West Simon’s housing support team leader, told the Limerick Post: “It’s a huge number of people. There would be a significant increase in the number of families coming in to access our food bank or looking for help with sorting accommodation. We also operate a deposit loan scheme for people who either aren’t entitled to a deposit or can’t afford one. Demand for all of those services has increased.
“We’re seeing more and more families with children who have been renting, but the landlord is putting up the rent, and they can’t afford what’s out there. The other problem is that there is nothing available in the rental market.”
The latest Rental Report by property website Daft.ie shows that rents in Limerick city have increased by almost nine per cent in the last 12 months.
According to Ms Reddy, there are currently about 200 people living in emergency accommodation in Limerick city. However she says this is just a fraction of the total number of people experiencing homelessness.
“There is a large number of hidden homeless. When we talk about homeless, we talk about people who are rough sleeping, people in emergency accommodation, people who are couch-surfing with friends or family, living in overcrowded conditions, tenants in arrears or tenants whose landlords are going to sell the property and they’re just looking at the moment,” she explained.
When asked about the reasons behind the growing homeless crisis, Ms Reddy said: “It’s a combination of years of government policy to not build. There was little or no social housing built in Ireland during the recession, and there was very little private housing being built either.
“People are also finding it very hard to get a mortgage, so they are being forced into the rental market. To cap it off, the rent limits are completely insufficient for the prices that are out there.”
Ms Reddy believes that social welfare rent caps need to be urgently increased and that local authorities need to be given more funding to purchase property for social housing.
“Every homeless organisation in the country is saying that the rent caps need to be increased. There also needs to be some form of rent control. There is legislation there but it’s not tight enough. If the government isn’t going to build houses then they need to purchase.
“While the government has announced a significant building programme, in reality it takes a couple of years for one house to be built, and this problem isn’t going to resolve itself within the next six months.
“Without being too pessimistic, I think it’s only going to get worse”, she said.
