HOMELESSNESS in Limerick has hit record levels, with 425 adults experiencing homelessness at the end of June — an increase on the previous month of 15 people – according to the latest Government report.
Across the Mid West there were 188 children accessing emergency accommodation throughout June —an increase on 10 on the figure in May.
Responding to the figures, Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan laid the blame firmly on the Government’s housing policies.
“People in Limerick will be rightly asking how can we be experiencing record homelessness at a time when there are 227 vacant local authority houses across the county?” he hit out.
“The answer is a consistent failure of Government to release the necessary funding to bring these houses back into use in a timely manner, combined with a failure to tackle the 5,900 vacant properties in the private sector across the State that remain idle,” Senator Gavan insisted.
The housing crisis, he believes, has been exacerbated by the Government decision to end the ban in April of last year on evictions where the tenant had done nothing wrong.
“What’s happening in Limerick is mirrored by what is happening right across the State. When Fine Gael took office in 2011 there were 3,808 people, including 641 children, in emergency homeless accommodation. 13 years on and there are now more than 14,303 people, including 4,044 children. That’s a 530 per cent increase in child homelessness on Fine Gael’s watch,” Senator Gavan claimed.
“Since the current Fianna Fail and Fine Gael coalition was formed in 2020, homelessness is up 64 per cent, child homelessness is up 66 per cent, family homelessness is up 80 per cent, and pensioner homelessness up 83 per cent.”
Senator Gavan claims that underpinning all of this failure is the fact that the Government is not delivering a sufficient volume of social and affordable housing to meet current need.
“Government targets are too low and they are not even meeting them,” he said.
“With every month that this government remains in office, the homeless figures continue to spiral.”
Focus Ireland has also called for urgent Government intervention as the number of people who are homeless across Ireland has increased to a record figure of 14,303 forJune 2024.
The Department of Housing figures show an increase of 144 people from the previous month and a stark 14 per cent rise in the last year since June 2023.
Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said that, in the middle of this crisis, it is vital to remember that it is possible to end homelessness if the right actions are taken.
“The numbers of people homeless continue to rise every month. We think a lot more can – and must – be done to ease this human crisis. We need to help more families and individuals to get and keep a home. And this is what we are doing year on year,” he said.
