The housing and homelessness crisis gets worse by the day. The Simon Communities have stated that the national figures, released for July, show that there are 6,525 people in emergency accommodation; a year-on-year increase of 40%.This includes 2,348 children, a year-on-year increase of 70%.
Pat Doyle, chief executive of the Peter McVerry Trust has said ‘the problem of homelessness is out of control’.
And as a result of the chronic shortages of supply landlords are driving the price of rented accommodation through the roof. Rents are now higher than at the high point of the Celtic Tiger bubble.
Already in June of this year average rents in Dublin stood at €1454 per month for an apartment and €1,306 for an apartment, with figures considerably higher than that in the more affluent parts of the city. By now they are higher still.
And yet the Fine Gael government which is happy to reject €13 billion taxes owed by Apple fails to take emergency action.
As Socialist Worker and People Before Profit have argued all along the Government should declare a National Housing Emergency and introduce rent controls immediately.
Rathmines People Before Profit have called an emergency protest demanding ‘Rent controls now!’ for Saturday 1 October. 2pm
The Simon Communities in Ireland have said that newly released emergency accommodation figures are the highest since records began. The chief executive of one of Ireland’s leading homelessness charities has said the “problem of homelessness is now out of control” commenting after figures released last night showed an increase of 40% in the number of people in emergency accommodation. Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland about the charity’s latest annual report, Mr Doyle said it faced “enormous challenges” after a huge increase in demand for its services last year.
RELATED AUDIO & VIDEO
■ Watch: Peter McVerry Trust reports 40% increase in number of people seeking emergency accommodation
■ Watch: Peter McVerry Trust says 2015 was busiest ever year Last year was its busiest year on record.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0830/812816-homeless-figures/
Mr Doyle said spiraling rents are the primary reason for the surge in demand for services, and is calling on the Government to purchase vacant private housing stock in order to increase supply. The overall number supported in the charity’s housing services rose by 40% compared to 2014, and the Trust helped 171 young people move into their own homes, the largest number in a year to date. New national figures for July have shown that more than 6,500 people are using emergency accommodation, a year on year increase of 40%. The Simon Communities in Ireland has said the figures show that the Government must urgently implement the Rebuilding Ireland action plan.
“We worked with about 4,500 people last year and only housed 171 of those,” said Mr Doyle. “So what we want to see is less emergency beds and more housing.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login