Crowe welcomes new timescale set for homeless

 

Sinn Féin representative Seán Crowe TD has welcomed the setting by the Minister for Housing of a new timescale to end long term homelessness and rough sleeping. He made his comments following the announcement by Jan O’Sullivan that a new deadline would be reset to 2016 given the failure to live up to a previous commitments for 2010.

Deputy Sean Crowe said;

“A  target originally set back in  2010 was believed by many to be  achievable and many positive steps were taken but sadly the political will was not there in government at that time to see through such an ambitious project. Homeless groups like Focus Ireland in 2011 then called for the date to be reset to 2013. The current government has now decided on 2016 as the date. This  could have been brought  a lot closer if the proper focus was given to housing but I welcome this commitment to set a new deadline.

“Focus Ireland believes from its own research that there are roughly 5000 homeless people across the state.
“Many of these homeless are under 18.
“People who experience homelessness are more likely to have physical or mental health difficulties and many were formerly in care.
“On any given night in the Dublin city area, there could be 90 people sleeping rough in doorway, parks, derelict sites and abandoned cars. Life expectancy, as a result of the extreme cold, malnutrition and crime is much lower for homeless people than it is for the general population. People sleeping rough are only the tip of the homeless iceberg however. The less obvious side of homelessness is made up of those who live in hostels, refuges, B&B’s shelters or emergency accommodation. This ‘hidden homeless’ population is sadly 20 times the number of people sleeping rough.
“All are in this  hopeless situation because of a lack of action when it comes to appropriate accommodation to meet their needs.A large proportion  are vulnerable  victims and many more are being made even more vulnerable because the of a failure by our society to respond their basic needs.

“Much hard work still needs to be done in order to end homelessness and the government will need to make strategic decisions to provide housing which is tailored to suit the varied needs of people coming out of homelessness. We know from the governments own figures that funding has been cut for homelessness services and emergency accommodation is at breaking point with organisations working with the homeless operating now at absolute capacity. This situation cannot be allowed to continue.

“A new deadline is a positive step forward but the funding of services for homeless people combined with the provision of permanent housing is what will end homeless crisis. This can be achieved by government in co-operation with the voluntary housing agencies if we collectively as a society commit ourselves to this new achievable deadline.”