Focus Ireland warns over looming homeless crisis
The Government must fast-track social housing projects if a major homelessness crisis in the future is to be avoided, a leading charity warned today.
Despite Ireland’s booming economy, 5,000 people were classed as homeless last year, compared with 2,700 in 1991, while 43,000 people remain on the public housing waiting list.
According to Focus Ireland, there are too many obstacles to delivering local authority homes, such as the scarcity of land and local opposition, which previous Governments have failed to address.
Launching its annual report, Focus Ireland’s chief executive Declan Jones said: “What we really need now is action and delivery.
“Real progress has been made in the area of homelessness in recent years but continued failure to meet targets may undo this progress and lead to an even greater social housing crisis in the future,” he said.
The homeless-support charity is committed to providing 800 homes by 2010 through building programmes and arrangements with local authorities.
Around 250 of these have already been delivered, with 105 provided last year.
“Without this service many of these families and individuals would have been at serious risk of becoming homeless,” Mr Jones said.
“Focus Ireland also carried out negotiations with local authorities in Cork and Sligo last year and has already begun to introduce its services in these counties this year.”
But he stressed that the state must speed up the delivery of public housing by both the voluntary and state sectors to avert a major social housing crisis in the future.
The issues which stall such developments, like land availability and local opposition, must be addressed by the Government.
“There are currently too many blockages to delivering housing.
“These include the scarcity/cost of land, the cost of buying housing and sometimes local opposition to social housing developments.”
“Successive governments have failed to do so and have also continually failed to meet agreed targets for housing,” he said.
“Towards 2016, the social partnership framework, makes it clear that the social housing targets of 73,000 units to be provided over the period 2005-2012 remains valid – yet at current output this will not be achieved,” he said.
The charity called on the Government to set aside €2bn for 10,000 priority social houses in 2008.
It pointed to the 300,000 people who are living in poverty in Ireland and the almost doubling of the housing waiting list since 1991.
“These figures are a sad indictment of successive governments’ commitment to end poverty that homelessness and the number of people without a secure home has nearly doubled over this time,” Mr Jones said.
“There have been improvements in recent years such as a significant drop in the numbers sleeping rough due to provision of specifically targeted services but there is still a long way to go to fully tackle homelessness and more general housing need.
“This shows how deep the division of social marginalisation runs in society,” he said.
