Half of homeless were living with family members
ALMOST half of all families were living with parents, partners or other family members before presenting as homeless to Dublin local authorities in the first half of 2017.
And some 49pc of families lived in overcrowded conditions, or experienced a relationship breakdown, prior to declaring themselves homeless.
The figures come as outgoing Housing Agency chair Conor Skehan claimed that families living in emergency accommodation may be self-declaring themselves homeless in order to jump the housing waiting list.
Homeless charities hit out at the comments and insisted there was no evidence to support the claim.
ALMOST half of all families were living with parents, partners or other family members before presenting themselves as homeless to Dublin local authorities in the first half of 2017.
Some 49pc of families were living in overcrowded conditions, or experienced a relationship breakdown, prior to declaring themselves as homeless – but experts warned that most would have already been forced from the private rental sector after being evicted or hit with a massive rental hike.
It comes after the outgoing chair of the Housing Agency, Conor Skehan, claimed that families living in emergency B&B or hotel accommodation may be self-declaring themselves as homeless to jump the housing waiting list. His comments provoked an outcry from homeless charities which said there was no evidence to support the claim. The Housing Agency said Mr Skehan was speaking in a personal capacity.
Mr Skehan said that some families may be “gaming the system” after the Government ordered Dublin local authorities in January 2015 to provide up to 50pc of all new social housing allocations to homeless individuals and families.
At the end of December 2014, 331 families were living in emergency accommodation which rose to 683 a year later. It now stands at just over 1,500. The policy has since been rescinded, but some councils continue to prioritise homeless accommodation, which Mr Skehan said may have resulted in some people declaring themselves as homeless to secure housing more quickly than others on the social housing waiting list.
“We unwittingly created a problem by prioritising self-declared homelessness above all other types of housing need, which created a distortion in the waiting list system and may have encouraged people to game the system,” he said.
One way to assess if this has happened was to examine if there was a “notable change in composition” of people presenting as homeless, he added.
“If you were a social scientist analysing it, you might find people who had chaotic lives suddenly being displaced by people who had two or three kids and who have found a way of gaming the system.”
The Housing Agency said Mr Skehan’s comments did not reflect the view of the advisory body, and that the “majority” of people seeking a home were genuine.
“It’s not the view of the Housing Agency that people are gaming the system,” chief executive John O’Connor said. In a “small amount” of cases, people would do all they could to get
priority, he added. Mr Skehan’s comments were roundly rejected by homeless charities and opposition TDs, who said they bore “no resemblance” to how the system operated. Mike Allen, from Focus Ireland, said 80 families a month became homeless in Dublin, and that most “do everything they can” to avoid ending up in homeless services.
“This sort of belief, that poor people are only poor because they are trying to game the system, has been around for hundreds of years. It’s a myth that seems impossible to get rid of,” he said.
Niamh Randall, from the Simon Community, added that the comments were “almost victim blaming”. “I think this is more of this very worrying narrative focusing on the normalisation of homelessness. I haven’t seen evidence to support this,” she added.