Coveney’s target missed as families still in hotels
SIMON Coveney’s self-imposed target to have all homeless families moved out of emergency hotel and B&B accommodation runs out today with hundreds of families still waiting to be rehoused.
In the Dublin region alone, 647 families were still in hotels and B&Bs at the end of May, according to the most recent figures available.
The former housing minister made the commitment as part of the Rebuilding Ireland plan published last July, when he headed the department.
Despite recommitting to the pledge on numerous occasions, Mr Coveney – now the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade – failed to succeed. Homelessness charities called the failure ‘disappointing’, adding that it was ‘especially frustrating for the families’.
Yesterday, a spokesman for Mr Coveney said: ‘The July 1 deadline was necessary in order for the issue to be given serious priority and to ensure things started to move at a very speedy manner. The minister released a statement when he left the Department of Housing outlining the detailed progress that was made during his time there and his successor has outlined the next steps in addressing the situation going forward today.’
Now that Mr Coveney has moved to Foreign Affairs after last month’s Cabinet shake-up, it falls to the recently appointed Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to defend the department’s failure to realise the goal.
Yesterday, Mr Murphy said: ‘As I indicated earlier this month, there will still be a number of homeless families in hotels as we enter July. This is very regrettable.’
He said the department had ‘redoubled our efforts in the past couple of weeks to ensure the pathway out of commercial hotels for virtually all of these families’.
He added that between March and May a further 300 families who presented as homeless were put in hotels and B&Bs.
Figures published yesterday show there were 4,922 adults and 2,777 children homeless at the end of May. There are 370 more homeless children now than there were at the start of the year. ‘That is, of course, too many and we continue to deal with an emergency situation,’ Mr Murphy said.
Last night, Kerry Anthony, chief executive of homelessness charity Depaul, criticised the Government for missing its target.
Ms Anthony said: ‘Depaul wants to urge the Government and the new Minister for Housing toward a robust continuation in its efforts to address the issue of homelessness, both for families and the many others trapped in the cycle of homelessness.’
And a spokesman for the Peter McVerry Trust homelessness charity said: ‘It is disappointing that the Government have failed to meet their target and especially frustrating for the families in hotels and B&Bs. It’s vitally important that families get access to the best possible emergency accommodation and supports while they wait for stable and secure housing.’
Earlier this week, Mr Murphy said that all families in emergency accommodation would receive a letter by the end of June telling them when and where they would be accommodated.
Speaking at the Housing Agency annual conference on Wednesday, Mr Murphy said: ‘By the end of this week they will either be out of that accommodation or they will know when they are going.
‘They’ll have clear sight of that at the end of this week – I think that’s a welcome development.’
But Eoin Ó Broin, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman, said he has heard from families who have been told they will be moved to other emergency accommodation and not permanent housing, which he said is unacceptable.
Mr Ó Broin said: ‘I have seen one of those letters and all it says is at some point in the future, they will be moved to other emergency accommodation, but it doesn’t say the location.
‘What these families are being told is they will be moved into other emergency accommodation and when, they don’t know. I have one of those letters and they don’t say what he said they would, so that in itself is a double disappointment.’
Mr Ó Broin added that he was ‘deeply disappointed that the Government hasn’t kept its word’ regarding Mr Coveney’s deadline.
‘However. I’m not surprised because they haven’t been spending enough money on building and buying the houses that these families need,’ he said.
A spokesman for the Simon Community also expressed disappointment, saying: ‘The Simon Community remains deeply concerned about the ever-increasing numbers of people who are trapped in overflowing emergency accommodation – now at 7,699.’ Comment – Page 14
katie.o’neill@dailymail.ie
‘This is very regrettable’ ‘Not spending enough on houses’