‘HOMELESSNESS CAN’T BE PART OF THE NEW NORMAL’
THE EMERGENCE OF THE SO CALLED NEW HOMELESS IS BECOMING A BIG FACTOR
Focus Ireland Northwest Project Worker Mark Slee (pictured) writes how Covid-19 must prove to be a turning point in the battle to end homelessness in Sligo and outlines what the Government needs to do in 2021.
IT’S been a tough year for the people of Sligo dealing with Covid-19 but imagine the added heartbreak of being homeless?
Focus Ireland has been working harder than ever in 2020 supporting 446 households in Sligo who are homeless or at risk of losing their home. During the year we have also helped 21 households in Sligo to move out of homelessness with the support of the state and local authorities.
Focus Ireland Sligo have been providing homeless and housing services for the past 12 years, the team in Sligo consist of eight project workers and one Fundraiser. Services provided include Tenancy Support and Sustainment, Advice and information service, Long-term supported accommodation and Short-term supported accommodation.
None of us would ever wish for this pandemic but we must make sure that Covid-19 is a real turning point in the battle to end homelessness.
Our Founder Sr Stanislaus Kennedy in 1987, which was the International Year of Homelessness, predicted that within six or seven years, we would end long-term homelessness.
It could have happened, except that governments reneged on commitments to provide houses.
And so the numbers of people experiencing homelessness grew until it was way beyond crisis.
However, it is really positive that the number of people now homeless nationwide (8,737) is the lowest it has been for a few years.
I would stress though there is much work still to be done.
Many people are again suffering job losses which means every action needs to be taken to ensure we not only stop the numbers homeless rising again.
No family should ever have to go through the trauma of losing their home and being homeless. No child should ever be born into homelessness.
Families and individuals lose their homes as they can’t afford to pay the rent or the house is sold or repossessed.
They have been called ‘ the new homeless’. That is the people who become homeless for purely economic reasons.
I believe that, as a country, we have a duty to look after all our citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable.
We must cherish all our children equally and ensure that no child suffers from being homeless.
As I write this, Sligo is still dealing with the Covid-19 public health emergency and Focus Ireland is working more closely than ever with the State and partner organisations to protect people who are homeless.
Welcome steps, such as the temporary ban on evictions and the rent freeze, had a big impact in cutting the numbers becoming homeless.
We have helped to move record numbers of families and individuals out of homelessness in this period.
This work must continue. As the country opens up, we must not let homelessness be a part of our new normal.
We need to move on from short-term measures and hubs to providing more social and affordable rental housing.
As we enter the new year the Government must act in 2021 upon the following commitments made in the Programme for Government which Focus Ireland was calling for in recent years.
- Develop a youth homelessness strategy. - Hold a referendum on housing.
- Establish a housing commission to help deliver more long-term policy for delivering housing in Ireland.
Focus Ireland hopes to work with the Government to inform these key pieces of work and we also would like to see the development of a specific family homelessness strategy to help move from managing this crisis towards ending it.
Focus Ireland is also set to soon launch a campaign calling on the Government to set a deadline to end homelessness.
This commitment to a deadline to end homelessness must be backed up by a realistic plan and timeline to achieve this.
We believe this is important as no country has ever managed a significant reduction in homelessness without having a firm commitment to ending it.
When there was a previous Government commitment to ending long-term homelessness by 2010 this led to the lowest ever level of homelessness in Ireland.
That success was swept away by the economic crisis. We can, and must, do better next time. The people of Sligo and Ireland deserve it.