Action needed on homeless targets

The Government needs to act quickly if it is to meet its commitment of ending long-term homelessness by the end of 2010, Focus Ireland has warned.

The homeless charity said a greater urgency on delivery of social housing is needed if the target is to be reached and that recent Government promises in the area appeared to be amounting to little.

The charity said that, as far as it was aware, a Government leasing scheme that aimed to provide 300 homes by the end of the year for homeless people and those on social housing lists had yet to deliver a single home.

Focus Ireland chief executive Joyce Loughnan said a unique opportunity exists to utilise unsold or empty properties for the purpose of social housing.

However, appropriate statutory commitments, approval process and standard lease agreements needed to be put in place if this was to work.

“The delivery of homes needs to be made a political priority if we are still serious about ending long-term homelessness,” she said.

The Government committed to the elimination of long term occupancy of emergency homeless accommodation by 2010 in the most recent social partnership agreement, Towards 2016.

Focus Ireland, which published its annual report for 2008 this afternoon, worked with over 5,500 people last year and it expects the number to rise this year because of the current economic problems.

Ms Loughnan said the situation could become even more serious if welfare payments and other services to the most vulnerable are cut in the forthcoming budget.

She said this would see more people becoming homeless and that hard-pressed services would struggle to cope with any further increase in demand.