Housing commitments ‘not enough’ to address family homelessness

The Government's proposed investments in housing are "not enough" to address family homelessness in Ireland, a group representing the views of over 50 organisations has told a United Nations body.

A report, sent to a UN committee under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Ireland is party, said financial commitments by the Government were not enough to address the "urgent and overwhelming need" for appropriate housing solutions.

The Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac) report is in response to the State’s October 1st submission to the UN committee.

Noeline Blackwell, director general of Flac, said the report did not take into account more recent financial commitments by the Government as regards social housing.

She said these included a €2.2 billion investment announced in Budget 2015 for the provision of 10,000 social housing units over three years.

Housing insecurity

However, while she said this investment was welcome the commitments had not addressed the “wider spectrum of housing insecurity in which people are living: it’s a question of the right to adequate and affordable housing to allow people to live in dignity and we haven’t come anywhere near that”.

The report states that “those who are fortunate enough to have a roof over their head may be at risk of losing it due to rising rents, reductions in rent supplement rates, mounting mortgage arrears or even eviction”.

Flac urged the committee to recommend that the State take action on a number of housing issues.

These include increased rent supplement limits, the introduction of rent controls, and measures to ensure security of tenure for residents.

Poorer people

On the planned introduction of water charges, the report recommends that the State provide free or low-cost water to ensure that poorer people are not disproportionately impacted.

Flac also urged the committee to recommend that the State:

Review the use of “zero-hour” contracts and regulate their use to ensure fair conditions for workers;

Increase the current minimum wage, which is “not sufficient to address the needs of many workers”;

Abolish the direct provision system which it said had failed to adequately protect the social, economic and cultural rights of asylum seekers;

End the “discriminatory practice” of providing a lower rate of social welfare payment to people under 26 years;

Put in place a high quality and affordable system of early childcare services;

Adequately resource the National Broadband Plan to ensure those living in a rural area have equal access.

The report, which encompasses the views of 53 organisations, was submitted to the UN committee last month ahead of Ireland’s next appearance before the committee due to take place in mid-2015.