Homelessness at highest level in State history, says Ó Cuív

The number of homeless families is at its highest level since the foundation of the State, the Dáil has heard.

Fianna Fáil’s Éamon Ó Cuív quoted the Simon Community as saying that homelessness “has never been as bad in Dublin and that the number of homeless families is at the highest level in our history”.

Mr Ó Cuív said there were more than 800 children in emergency hotel and hostel accommodation.

The situation had been made much worse by cuts to rent allowance and the elimination of the mortgage interest supplement, he said.

“This comes at a time when rents have risen up to 15 per cent or 20 per cent in urban areas.”

Calling on Tánaiste Joan Burton to reverse the cuts to rent allowance and to the rent allowance caps, Mr Ó Cuív said the Simon Community charity had highlighted the extent of the crisis “and the lack of response in terms of short-term measures”.

Rejecting his call, Ms Burton said the Government was doing what should have always been done.

“They were dealing with individual cases because to simply raise and increase all rent levels, as Fianna Fáil seems to be implying, would be to drive up rent levels for people at work and for students enormously.”

Individual increases

The Tánaiste said they were negotiating increases for any individual or family in need of help in sustaining their rent supplement. Since the start of the year 4,000 new rent supplement tenancies had been arranged through the Department of Social Protection.

Community welfare officers had also been engaged in a protocol in more than 200 cases where an increase was agreed. She reiterated that the Government was also looking at seeking rent certainty.

Ms Burton added that before Christmas Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly introduced a series of initiatives, including the provision of hundreds of emergency beds.

The Tánaiste said the long- term solution to homelessness was to build houses.

“Slowly but surely, following what Fianna Fáil did to the building industry and the 330,000 people who lost their jobs as a result . . . we are now in a situation where the supply of housing is increasing.”

Ms Burton said that “we have devoted in the budget for 2015 and over the next three years the largest amount ever devoted to a house building programme in the history of the State”.