THE homelessness crisis in Limerick is continuing to worsen.
That’s the view of Limerick City Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan, who says the rising level of homelessness in Limerick is “appalling and simply not acceptable”.
The Department of Housing Homeless Report for November 2016 showed that the total number of people experiencing homelessness in Ireland has almost reached 7,000 for the first time.
In the Mid-West region it was recorded that 33 families, which included 79 children were now homeless. The figures show that some 70 children in Limerick City were homeless back in November.
“The Department’s report shows that 6,985 people, 2,549 of them children, were accessing emergency accommodation in November. These included 219 adults and 70 Children in Limerick City,” said Deputy Quinlivan.
“While these figures are both shocking and appalling, they don’t include adults and children in emergency domestic violence refuges funded by Tusla, non-residents in emergency accommodation funded by the New Communities Unit of the Department of Social Protection or those people sofa surfing.”
“Neither do they detail the length of time people are spending in emergency accommodation with some families in Limerick now spending months in inappropriate hotels or bed and breakfasts.
“Given that Fine Gael have been in office for the last five years, these figures are a damning indictment of the failure of their housing policies. It demonstrates that they are not willing to address the crisis. Despite the spin from Government, the numbers desperately seeking housing keeps rising.
“There is an urgent need for the Government to step up its house acquisition and building programme to get these adults and children out of emergency accommodation,” Deputy Quinlivan added.
“AIB and PTSB have offered the State up to 1,000 vacant houses for purchase yet inexplicably Government has only provided money for the purchase of 200. Likewise there are 189,000 vacant units across the State yet the funding being made available to get these units back into active use is a drop in the ocean. We learned recently that there are 41 council properties vacant in Limerick while people linger in hotels.
2017 can be the year Government ends homelessness if it wants to. Failure to act decisively will be a stain on Government. However the crisis will only be addressed if they match their words with action and crucially with funds. These rising homeless figures are a stark reminder that government actions to date are still not working and the crisis will deepen,” he concluded.
by Alan Jacques
