Homeless figures 'a disgrace' says Sr Stanislaus

The Government's failure to tackle homelessness is "nothing short of disgraceful", the president of one of the main charities has said.

Sister Stanislaus Kennedy was speaking at the publication yesterday of Focus Ireland's annual report, which found that as the Government's homelessness strategy enters its third and final year, homelessness figures continue to rise.

Despite commitments to halve homelessness by the end of 2005, more people are homeless than at the start of the strategy in 1999, it said. They are spending longer periods homeless and those experiencing the hardest edge of homelessness, i.e. sleeping rough, are younger.

The chief executive of Focus Ireland, Mr Declan Jones, said the Government had broken its promises on homelessness.

"The average length of time spent living in emergency B&B accommodation has shot up from only 20 days in 1993 to a current average of 18 months. These figures clearly show the strategy is failing."

The report says housing waiting-lists "have shot up 24 per cent from 39,000 in 1999 to a current record high of 48,413 households. That's a staggering total of nearly 140,000 men, women and children who don't have a proper place to call home."

It also predicts housing waiting-lists will continue to grow. "Last year the Government admitted it would not meet its housing commitments under the PPF to provide 25,000 new house starts from 2000 - 2003. This means the housing waiting-lists will continue to grow unchecked and people will have to wait even longer before being housed."

On those sleeping rough, the charity reports its outreach teams met 897 individuals on the streets over the course of 2002.

Some 56 per cent of these were under 26. Overall, Focus Ireland helped 1,382 people between the ages of 12 and 25 years. Its coffee shop, which is used as a drop-in and referral and advice centre, saw demand on its services increase to the extent in 2002 it was compelled to extend its opening hours from five to seven days and from 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. It used to close at 4 p.m.

Some 2,600 individuals were helped there during 2002, with 771 deemed to have been in crisis situations.

Writing in the report, Sister Stanislaus described the worsening homelessness figures, in the wake of 15 years of "unprecedented levels of economic growth", as "nothing short of disgraceful".

"In spite of publicly-proclaimed funding problems, the resources must be made available to deal effectively with this national scandal."

She called on the Government to "return to the social and progressive housing policies of the last century which ensured that between one quarter and one third of the total housing stock was public housing".

"This could be carried out by Dublin public housing output each year for the next 10 years from the 5,000 units achieved in 2002 and by putting in place the legislative framework, finance, land and other resources necessary to make this happen."