In July, two families a day were becoming homeless in Dublin.
The problem of homelessness just continues to get worse and worse. The number of individuals presenting as homeless has been rising, month by month, for several years, with a record 4,668 people, including 1,383 children sleeping in State-funded emergency accommodation in July this year.
When Jonathan Corrie died in a doorway within yards of Dáil Éireann last December, there was a rush to provide further emergency accommodation to get people off the streets.
Funding for 271 extra beds was provided. However, within four weeks, these beds were all full and the numbers unable to get a bed at night and forced to sleep on the street began rising again.
Today they are back to the same level as last December. The fact that there is now no rush to provide yet more emergency accommodation suggests that the concern last December was less to do with people sleeping on the streets than with the political embarrassment over the death of a homeless person so close to where political decisions are made (or not made).
Most of the emergency, one-night only, accommodation available is an insult to the dignity of homeless people. It is almost all dormitory-style accommodation where drugs, aggression and bullying are rife.
Source: Peter McVerry, The Irish Times, 18/09/15
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