The seemingly never-ending torrent of increases in homeless numbers shows the government lost complete control of housing long ago, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n
Deputy Hearne made his comments as a new record high for homelessness was confirmed this afternoon:<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s figures show there were 16,614 people living in homeless emergency accommodation at the end of September. Shockingly, 5,238 of them are children. These record numbers are a shameful indictment of a government that continues to deprioritise homelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese numbers are the direct result of policy choices made by the government. This is what happens when you do not protect vulnerable renters, or prevent them from becoming homeless.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter almost six years of Fianna F\u00e1il Housing Ministers, the homelessness crisis continues to spiral.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven Fianna F\u00e1il backbenchers agree that the government is failing to get to grips with housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been a complete and utter failure to prioritise those in and facing homelessness, showing an abhorrent lack of compassion.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on any evaluation of government housing policy, preventing homelessness is clearly not a focus for the Minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs incriminating as today\u2019s numbers are, they fall short of encompassing the thousands of people experiencing hidden homelessness – without prioritising prevention, thousands more will fall into housing hardship.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost 10,000 notices to quit were issued in the first six months of this year – only an eviction ban can effectively prevent these families from losing the roof over their heads.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese numbers are real families and real children experiencing serious trauma day in and day out \u2013 their plight cannot be ignored any longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cFianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael policy has created this disaster by privatising social housing delivery to the private rental market. In parallel, they have allowed rents to rise astronomically to incentivise investor funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment paralysis on housing cannot continue. We need to see an immediate rent freeze and rent reduction mechanisms put in place, alongside a ramping-up of social and affordable housing delivery, to end the State\u2019s over-reliance on HAP.\u201d<\/p>\n
October 31st, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The seemingly never-ending torrent of increases in homeless numbers shows the government lost complete control of housing long ago, according to Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne made his comments as a new record high for homelessness was confirmed this afternoon: \u201cToday\u2019s figures show there were 16,614 people living in homeless emergency accommodation […]<\/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-14223","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