No decision has been made whether to extend the eviction ban, despite record-breaking numbers of people homeless in Ireland, says Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien. This government’s quick decision to introduce an eviction ban has failed in its attempts to stop, or even slow down the number of people homeless in Ireland.
The temporary eviction ban has been in place since November 2022, and is due to expire at the end of March 2023, despite a new record high of 11,632 people homeless in Ireland. This includes 8,190 adults and close to 3,500 children.
During his interview on RTÉ this week, Darragh O’Brien agreed that the homelessness figures are far too high, but when asked to acknowledge that the situation was “shameful”, he refused.
“It’s a really difficult situation” O’Brien said, “to tackle this issue, which is our number one priority, we need to see people exiting from homelessness to safe and secure homes”.
O’Brien then added that any decision regarding extending the eviction ban would be made by Cabinet. “Any measures that I bring forward have to be legal and, in consultation with the Attorney General’s office, we’re keeping this under very, very close review” he told RTÉ.
The question must be asked however - is this good enough? According to statistics, the eviction ban has not eased homelessness in Ireland and we still see numbers rocketing each month.
Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan has said: “While we warmly welcome the words of commitment towards addressing the homeless crisis from both the Minister of Housing, Darragh O’Brien and new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, we need to see those words turned into urgent action."
“The number of people who have been homeless for more for than six months is increasing and in Dublin there are now 178 families and 574 single people who have been in homeless accommodation for over two years. This is unacceptable. It’s important to remember that when we discuss these figures we are talking about human beings struggling every day”
It is quite easy in the discussion of figures and policies to forget that there are real people behind these statistics. These people need action and movement by the government. You cannot house people in promises and goals.
Dublin Simon Community CEO Catherine Kenny has said that homelessness is breaking records for the wrong reasons.
"Homelessness is harmful, and the damage it wreaks is irreparable. Research commissioned by the Dublin Region Homeless Executive has shown that mortality rates are 3 to 10 times higher for women experiencing homelessness, and 6 to 10 times higher for men experiencing homelessness."
Across homeless services, those individuals aged 55 and over are often considered to be elderly as their diminished standard of health, physically presents them as ten to twenty years older than their actual age.
2023 needs to be a year of movement and action. During the time of the highest homelessness figures on record in Ireland, the Irish government decided to introduce the moratorium on evictions. This was a miniscule step in what is ultimately a marathon. We now need to see momentum on policy making, enforcement and the provision of safe accommodation to the homeless population of Ireland throughout 2023.
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Written by Molly Hunt 2nd February 2023
