Sir, – Having journeyed with people who are homeless or in need since 1969, I am appalled that despite being alerted to the increase in numbers of people accessing services such as the Capuchin Day Centre, the current housing crisis has been allowed to develop and that it took until two days before an election before it reached the agenda of the Oireachtas.
We became aware of the new situation regarding homeless families in early 2013 when parents asked for take-away food for their children because they had no access to food or other facilities in the evening or at night.
Every day here in the Capuchin Day Centre we meet the tragic human casualties of failed policies that have reached a new level of social neglect by our Government.
While the Government’s new-found realisation that we have in fact a homeless crisis has resulted in a promise of “urgent action” by the Taoiseach, going by past experience we have found that these “promises” soon get swamped under layers of bureaucracy and passing the buck between different departments, local government and other agencies when it comes to their practical implementation. We have seen precious resources being frittered away on meaningless surveys and failed action plans.
Perhaps the State could learn something from our “strategic plan”, which is based on the principles of St Francis of Assisi – “Start with what is necessary and do what is possible”.
We now have a three-tiered homeless population and it is my fear that those most at risk will be plunged to the bottom when it comes to priorities and all three are competing for the same limited resources.
Regarding rough sleepers – the diversion of funds from emergency accommodation and the cessation of the night bus with its ring-fenced accommodation (following the previous action plan) means we have more people at risk of dying on the side of the road than when we started the centre in 1969.
How many of these people will even be alive for next Christmas?
Regarding the new poor who have been squeezed out of the private rented market, if the current appalling situation is not addressed we will be paying the health and social consequences for generations. What is to become of these children who are uprooted from their schools, friends and families? Little children and their stressed-out parents cannot put their lives on hold.
Regarding owner-occupied households, Peter McVerry has predicted a “tsunami” of possibly 35,000 homes being repossessed by banks from people who cannot pay their mortgage. Apart from the human and financial cost, the social consequences of such a situation are unimaginable.
For those sleeping rough, the night bus and emergency accommodation services should be restored to even 2010 levels.
For families in private rented accommodation, reinstate the rent supplement or force landlords to accommodate people adequately.
Recently an intervention by Senator Fergal Quinn led to legislative changes in upward-only rent reviews for commercial property. Surely someone in Government could take up the gauntlet for a similar piece of legislation on behalf of private rental tenants that would prohibit landlords from exploiting vulnerable people who have no other means of providing a home for their families.
Stop the banks who owe the Irish people billions from repossessing homes.
In conclusion I would like to say that while there is a “tsunami” of homelessness, from our experience here in the Capuchin Day Centre, there are good people who do all in their power to help and show concern for the wellbeing of their brothers and sisters who have fallen on hard times. Every day I thank God for the many people who have continued to help us over the years in spite of all the difficulties. – Yours, etc,
Bro KEVIN
CROWLEY, OFM CAP
Director,
Capuchin Day Centre,
Bow Street, Dublin 7.
Sir, – One cannot deny the existence of a housing crisis for many people in Ireland today. However, bringing empty homes into use has received little attention in the current discourse. The CSO’s Census 2011 showed that there were some 17,597 unoccupied vacant houses in Dublin (not holiday homes). Some 7,995 of these were in Dublin City, 4,070 were in Fingal, 2,786 in South Dublin and 2,746 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
In addition, there were 25,333 vacant flats (again not holiday homes), with 16,321 in Dublin City, 2,823 in Fingal, 2,439 in South Dublin and 3,750 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
Could it be that these are all now occupied (or for sale) and that the Government must relax planning laws and other regulations to drive the building of more homes in Dublin? Indeed, the figures are the same for all other urban centres. – Yours, etc,
Dr PADRAIC KENNA,
Centre for Housing Law,
Rights and Policy,
NUI Galway.