DECLAN JONES,
Madam, - We wish to respond to Fachtna O'Reilly's letter of January 4th, which linked the intake of refugees to homelessness.
People become homeless for many reasons - family breakdown, leaving institutional care with nowhere to go, mental ill-health, etc. - all of which are underpinned by the experience of poverty.
When someone must, for whatever reason, flee their home and seek refuge in another country they too are homeless. Their need for safe, affordable, permanent accommodation is no less a priority than those people traditionally defined as "homeless".
Homelessness in Ireland will be solved only when the Government takes political responsibility for the on-going housing crisis. The resources are there to meet the needs both of refugees and of those traditionally viewed as homeless, if the Government chooses to allocate the amount needed over the next few years.
It is not an either/or situation. Nor is it, as Mr O' Reilly suggests, simply an issue of donating some public funds to various homelessness organisations, but of overhauling our national housing policy which discriminates against people on low incomes or none.
Our organisations have repeatedly called on the Government to:
1. Enshrine a right to housing in the Constitution.
2. Substantially invest in social housing.
3. Ensure that house-building actually reflects the needs and profile of those who are currently without a home.
Instead, in the past month we have seen:
1. A 23 per cent increase in housing waiting lists, promptly followed by a reduction in Government spending on social housing.
2. A cap on the amount of rent allowance which health boards will pay - which may force more people out of the private rented sector and into homelessness.
3. An effective cut in social welfare payments, with inflation and increased rent contribution leaving social welfare recipients worse off now than before the Budget.
Our organisations are working together with all those who find themselves homeless, including members of the travelling community, refugees and asylum-seekers, to ensure the Government takes responsibility for the current housing crisis. - Is mise,
DECLAN JONES, Father PETER Mc VERRY SJ, Director, Arrupe Society; Chief Executive, Focus Ireland; NOELEEN HARTIGAN, Simon Communities of Ireland; JOHN MONAGHAN, Chair, Social Policy Committee, Society of St Vincent De Paul.