CO CLARE is “falling through the cracks” when it comes to tackling homelessness, one of the county’s four TDs has said.
Numbers presenting to local authorities in the Mid-West increased by eleven percent in May 2023 compared with figures for May 2022, an official report from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage detailed.
According to the report, 400 adults accessed emergency accommodation in May 2023. A further 402 adults were recorded as homeless across Limerick and Clare. May 2023 also saw the highest number of new presentations to Clare County Council’s Homeless Action Team. Nationally, 12,441 people accessed emergency accommodation, including 3,699 children.
Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne (IND) stated, “the most recent rise in homelessness figures shows that when the Minister says he is doing all that he can, it is simply not enough for those that are finding themselves in the desperate situation of being homeless. Clearly falling through the ever-growing cracks under (Minister) O’Brien’s watch, these people have failed. Being told to stay where they are and to suck it up is not good enough. People are being told that if they have family or friends to stay with, on their couch in their spare room, on blow-up beds”.
She continued, “This is utter madness. There are no new emergency accommodation centres coming on stream. I have been back and forward trying to ascertain what new emergency accommodation centres are being established. The Local Authorities such as Clare have been full to capacity for over a year now. We know that the Mid-West region had the highest number of families accessing emergency accommodation outside of Dublin. There has been a need for Family Hubs to be developed as children should be the focus of the homelessness crisis. No one wants to grow up into homelessness or at risk of it”.
Legislation needs to be implemented to put the best interests of children at the front of housing policies, Deputy Wynne commented. “I have called on the Minister to introduce this important legislation and to intervene in the matter of emergency accommodation on the floor of the Dáil more than once. I have requested the Minister to instruct Local Authorities to record each and every presentation of homelessness. People are on a waiting list for emergency support but are not being recorded, this is a perfect massage of numbers by the Minister to distort the real picture of the housing disaster, and the fact that he is not adequately resourcing the Local Authorities to deal with the crisis. It is simply not good enough”.
