Government’s housing plan must mark ‘radical shift’ in policy – charity

The Government’s new housing and homelessness plan should mark “a radical shift”, a charity chief has said.

The coalition’s strategy, to be published later this month, comes as more than 16,000 people are homeless and Ireland is set to miss its housing targets.

Focus Ireland said 18,000 people engaged with its services last year, with a 7% increase in the number of children it supported.

Speaking at the launch of its annual report at the Irish Architectural Archive in Dublin, Focus Ireland chief executive Pat Dennigan said people need “bold action, not broken promises”.

He added: “Homelessness is not inevitable, but it is the result of choices made and it can be ended by making different, better choices.”

The charity’s chairwoman, Katie Burke, said the rate of inflation and underfunded public services is a “key concern” and has become “even more urgent”.

Focus Ireland supported a record 1,209 households out of homelessness last year, a 10% increase on the previous year.

This included 587 families – a 21% rise since 2023.

The charity supported more than 18,000 people nationwide who were either homeless or at risk of losing their home in 2024.

Marie Farrell, a mother-of-two from Co Kildare, said that when she was homeless three years ago she felt like a statistic and that there was no hope for her.

Ms Farrell, who is now a peer support worker with Focus Ireland, said she was fighting “tooth and nail” to help people in the same situation as she was in.

“Go to a GAA match, look at the people that are all around you, then close your eyes and try and believe and see that these people are in hotel rooms, these are in emergency accommodation,” she said.

“My message to the Government is, put down your pens and paper, start making children the number one (priority).

“Think of their own children, think of their own nieces and nephews if they were in the same predicament.”

Mr Dennigan said: “Focus Ireland has stressed that the Government’s forthcoming ‘housing and homelessness plan’ – due to be published in late September – must mark a radical shift in both housing and homelessness policy.

“In a recent meeting with Minister for Housing James Browne and senior officials, we emphasised that the new strategy must fully integrate housing and homelessness while acknowledging that homelessness often requires more supports alongside providing a home.”