Homelessness Hits Another Record High

There is a light…

atest press release from Deputy John Brady, issued on Tuesday, August 1st 2023…

Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady, responding to the latest Department of Housing homeless figures, which show the number of adults and children in emergency accommodation has reached another historic high, has said that ‘it is time for this government, their housing Minister and his housing plan to go’.

The Department of Housing homeless report for June, published last week, showed an increase in all categories of people accessing emergency accommodation funded by that Department.

Brady said: “Another month and another deeply depressing Department of Housing Homelessness report. In June, there were 12,600 people, including 3,837 children, in Department of Housing-funded emergency accommodation.”

June saw increases in family and single person homelessness, and in both child and pensioner homelessness. This included 48 people in County Wicklow.

A recent Daft.ie report for the same period revealed that 70% of people interviewed said that the lack of available housing is a major determining factor in delaying house purchase.

Wicklow remains the most expensive county in the country to buy a house outside of Dublin, with the average house price in Wicklow running at just under €400,000, with many being forced to pay much more, more and more young people, workers and families are being excluded from the property market.

The average cost of a new build in Wicklow is running at €455,000, more than €160,000 more expensive than neighbouring Wexford.

“Of course, these figures do not show the full extent of the homeless crisis, or the challenges that those searching for accommodation face. But they are a damning indictment of this government’s failure to tackle the housing crisis.

“Twelve years of Fine Gael in government, seven years of Fianna Fáil propping them up. Three years with Darragh O’Brien at the helm, and things have never been worse.

“This government has run out of road on housing. It is time for the government, their housing minister and his housing plan to go.

We need a change of government, minister, and housing plan if we are to start undoing the damage caused by decades of bad Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael housing policy.”