Dublin South West TD, Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe, has welcomed the recent call of the children\u2019s charity, Barnardos, for action on the housing crisis and the inappropriateness of emergency accommodation for families with children.<\/p>\n
Crowe said his advice centre was inundated with cases and that the likelihood of Housing Minister Jan O Sullivan eliminating homelessness by 2016 was \u201cinfinitesimal\u201d.<\/p>\n
Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cA target originally set back in 2010 to eliminate homelessness was believed to be achievable, but sadly the government at that time didn\u2019t have the political will to see through such an ambitious project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current government has suggested 2016 as the new date. <\/p>\n
\u201cFocus Ireland, from its own research, believes that there are roughly 5000 homeless people across the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of these homeless are under 18. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who experience homelessness are more likely to have physical or mental health difficulties and many were formerly in care.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn any given night in the Dublin city area, there could be 90 people sleeping rough in doorways, 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople sleeping rough are only the tip of the homeless iceberg. The less obvious side of homelessness is made up of those who live in hostels, refuges, B&B\u2019s shelters, or emergency accommodation. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis \u2018hidden homeless\u2019 population is sadly 20 times the number of people sleeping rough.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Crowe continued:<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree with Barnardos about the inappropriateness of emergency accommodation for families with children. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll are in this hopeless situation because of a lack of action when it comes to appropriate accommodation to meet their needs. Large proportions are vulnerable victims and many more are being made even more vulnerable because this government\u2019s failure to respond their housing needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch more 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know from the government\u2019s own figures that funding has been cut for homelessness services and emergency accommodation is at breaking point, with organisations working with the homeless now operating at absolute capacity. <\/p>\n
\u201cA new deadline looks like a positive step forward, but the direct provision of permanent housing is what will end the homeless crisis. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis can be achieved by the government in co-operation with the voluntary housing agencies and if we, as a society, collectively commit ourselves to this new achievable deadline<\/p>\n
\u201cMy advice centre is inundated with housing cases and I firmly believe that the likelihood of Housing Minister Jan O Sullivan eliminating homelessness by 2016 is off the charts and infinitesimal.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dublin South West TD, Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe, has welcomed the recent call of the children\u2019s charity, Barnardos, for action on the housing crisis and the inappropriateness of emergency accommodation for families with children. Crowe said his advice centre was inundated with cases and that the likelihood of Housing Minister Jan O Sullivan eliminating homelessness by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-housing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1732,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions\/1732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}