53 CHILDREN HELPED BY HOMELESS CHARITY

THE lives of families and children in the North West are being “traumatised” and “devastated” by homelessness.

That’s according to Development Officer of North West Simon Mary McKeon who has issued a call for urgent action from the Government to deal with the ever-increasing crisis.

The local housing charity worked with 39 cases in the first six months of this year – of that 22 were families, 53 were children and 17 were single people, the majority of whom were Irish.

“It’s time for change. This is unacceptable,” she told The Sligo Champion on Monday.

“If we don’t challenge the new normal, then we all risk being complicit with the narrative that this is all normal and will be resolved with time,” she said.

A Simon Housing Support Clinic now takes place in Tubbercurry every Thursday 10am1pm to meet the rising need for help from the homeless in the area.

McKeown is urging everyone to sign their online petition at www.simon.ie and “send a message to the Government that they can’t ignore the homeless and housing crisis.”

“Large-scale secure, social and affordable housing supply is urgently required to meet the housing needs of the 86,000 households on the social housing waiting list,” she said.

“People must not be left to wait any longer -we need urgent action now. People are being traumatised by their experiences of homelessness and housing insecurity.

“Almost 4,000 children are sleeping rough, sofa surfing or hidden homeless as is the case in the North West,” said McKeown.

Simon Week runs from 1-7 October nationally.