Homelessness needs more focus says leading advocacy group
With five days to go until the election a leading homeless advocacy group has said there has not been enough focus on the issue.
Three years today since the Government promised to end homelessness the numbers sleeping rough continue to rise.
5,400 people were homeless at the end of last year - an increase of 1,500 people on the previous year.
And CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust has said that the rise in rents and the lack of supply is driving people onto the streets; “Some of our homeless population do have challenging needs.
“Alcohol and drug issues, mental health issues, they have been around for a while, they will probably continue to be around.
“Our challenge there would be to get them out homelessness services much quicker, but last year 38% of homeless people were new.
“That was the banks, that was the repossessions, that was the increase in rent and no increase to match in rent supplements.”
