The government must immediately develop a family homelessness strategy and reintroduce a no-fault eviction ban, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, was commenting on the latest homelessness figures, which were published this afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe figures show there were 15,286 people living in homeless emergency accommodation at the end of January. Shockingly, 4,603 of them are children. These are the highest homelessness numbers in the history of the State.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, 4,000 new families presented as homeless, a 23 per cent increase on the 2023 figures.<\/p>\n
\u201cA total of 906 families have been in emergency accommodation longer than one year, and 417 for over two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese unacceptably high numbers continue to be a stain on society and are a damning indictment of failed housing policy by successive governments.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth the Housing for All plan and new programme for government commit to the Lisbon Declaration goal of ending homelessness by 2030. However, comments made by Housing Minister James Browne today suggest that the government is already rowing back on this commitment \u2013 just weeks after taking office.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe homelessness U-turn is just the latest in a long line of broken promises on housing, such as Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael\u2019s spectacular failure to deliver the 40,000 homes they claimed would be completed last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cContrast this with the Taoiseach signalling a review of Rent Pressure Zones, a measure that will benefit landlords and investment funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn RT\u00c9\u2019s \u2018Upfront with Katie Hannon\u2019 this week we saw the lived reality of life in a family homelessness hub. The programme highlighted the deeply damaging impact that living in emergency accommodation has on parents and young children, including those with complex medical needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real tragedy is that this and previous governments have allowed the issue of family homelessness to become normalised. This is something we should refuse to accept, which is why I will constantly challenge the government on this issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamily homelessness is a blind spot for this government. During a debate on the Housing Commission\u2019s report in the D\u00e1il yesterday, Minister Browne \u2013 who has mostly been missing in action since taking up his brief \u2013 did not once mention homelessness during his contribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question must be asked: why is the government not willing to protect tenants when we know that the number one cause of family homelessness is evictions from the private rental sector?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Social Democrats are calling on the government to urgently develop a family homelessness strategy, and reinstate the no-fault eviction ban to protect renters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHomelessness is a human tragedy. It should not be tolerated in any properly functioning society.\u201d<\/p>\n
February 28, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government must immediately develop a family homelessness strategy and reintroduce a no-fault eviction ban, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, was commenting on the latest homelessness figures, which were published this afternoon. \u201cThe figures show there were 15,286 people living in homeless emergency accommodation at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[663,10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homelessness","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n