It is an affront to our very values that we have a situation where so many children and families do not have a place to call home, but are instead living in hotels, B&Bs and so-called family hubs.
Commenting on the latest homelessness figures, Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD said:
“For the seventh month in a row, the number of people who are homeless has remained above 10,000, with the total for August at 10,338. There are now 6,490 adults and 3,848 children in emergency accommodation – that’s 70 children more than in the month of July.
“The abject failure of the Fine Gael government to build affordable homes for people to buy or rent means that homelessness is increasingly becoming normalised. But we must never accept that this is a normal state of affairs. It is an affront to our very values that we have a situation where so many children and families do not have a place to call home, but are instead living in hotels, B&Bs and so-called family hubs.
“The lack of housing supply is also heaping pressure on the rental sector where rents are sky rocketing, with Residential Tenancies Board figures showing that the average rent countrywide is now at €1,202 per month, rising to €1,713 in Dublin.
“The Social Democrats strongly believe that the government needs to move to a war footing to tackle this emergency. We need to see an immediate nationwide rent freeze, a discussion regarding the Central Bank rules, and a Land Development Agency with real teeth and with much more ambitious housing delivery targets.”
ENDS
30th September 2019