Focus Ireland provided help and assistance to 18,000 people who were homeless or at risk of homelessness last year. It was an increase of 2,000 people on the previous year. It is no small feat but in truth the charity is running hard just to stand still.
Figures from the Department of Housing show that the number of adults accessing emergency accommodation run by local authorities during the week running up to Christmas last year was 9,356, up from 8,190 the previous year. The increase in this measure of homelessness of 12.4 per cent pretty much matches the 12.5 per cent increase in the number of people helped by Focus Ireland last year.
And the situation is deteriorating with the number of homeless adults passing 10,000 for the first time last month. When children are included, 14,429 people are without a home.
It is clear than some fresh thinking is needed. The chief executive of Focus Ireland , Pat Dennigan, has called for homeless people to be prioritised for new social housing. A similar strategy under which a portion of new social housing was dedicated for housing long-term homeless families worked successfully during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
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Focus Ireland has suggested that in the region of 10 or 20 per cent of the social housing that becomes available should be dedicated to housing the homeless. This echoes a similar call from another large homeless charity Dublin Simon. Its chief executive Catherine Kenny has called for an exponential increase in the development of new social housing to be a priority in the coming Budget. The provision of suitable housing is only one part – albeit a very significant one – of any solution to the problem of homelessness and other supports are needed to keep people in their homes once they have one.
The Taoiseach needs to make good on his commitment that the Government would look at how local authorities allocate social housing. And as with so much else in the housing market, the long-term solution is increased supply.