Dublin Simon Community Responds to December 2022 Homeless Report
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage released the Homeless Report for December 2022 earlier today.
Dublin Simon Community CEO, Catherine Kenny responds to the December report:
“We are deeply frustrated by the increase in the number of people in Dublin emergency accommodation recorded in the December 2022 Homeless Report. This is highly unusual and concerning for December, which normally features a brief decline in numbers as people are accommodated by family and friends over the Christmas period. This is the eighth month in a row in which we have broken a shocking and dismal record.”
“In our capital city alone at least 2,700 households became homeless for the first time in 2022. That’s 52 households per week, or 7 households per day who lost the roof over their heads. This equates to 5 single adults and 2 families becoming homeless every day in 2022. While 7 households entered homelessness on a daily basis, only two households exited to a home. More and more people are becoming trapped in a system backlog that is straining under immense pressure, and the prospect of a home is moving further and further out of reach.”
“A home provides a standard of living that every one of us deserves. Emergency accommodation is designed for emergencies, and should only ever be a stop gap on the path to having a home. The current moratorium on evictions will not continue indefinitely, and we are calling for sustainable exits out of homelessness, rather than knee-jerk temporary measures that fail to address its underlying causes.”
“The delivery of housing is of the utmost priority. It’s the only realistic solution to eradicating homelessness in this country, and to put an end to the tidal wave of hardship and suffering. Time and time again, we have seen that having a home is a matter of life and death. We are calling on Government to deliver a functioning housing market and short, medium and long-term solutions for all of those in need. Of critical importance is a revision of ‘Housing for All’ government policy and specific actions and targets related to social housing builds, and critically, an affordable rental market and rental supply which are integral pillars of housing stability.”
