The CEO of Midwest Simon says we’re ‘fooling ourselves’ to think there will be short term solutions to increasing numbers of people presenting as homeless.
It comes after the number of new presentations to the Clare Homeless Action Team increased by more than 50 percent in the past month.
Between September 20th and October 15th, 174 people presented to Clare County Council’s Homeless Action Team.
145 of those were ‘repeat presentations’, with 29 new homeless presentations to the local authority.
It’s an increase on the 18 new presentations documented by the Council the previous month.
It’s led to renewed calls locally for serious consideration to be given by Government to once again look at eviction bans and rent increase caps as a more permanent measure.
The initiatives were brought in during the height of the pandemic, leading to a significant reduction in demand for homeless services in the Midwest at the time.
Head of Policy and Communications with Novas, Una Burns, says the measures should be considered while the State plays catch-up on building houses.
The Clare Homeless Action Team helped 13 households exit homelessness last month, with 12 of those housed in own door accommodation.
However, 11 families in this county remain without a home according to Department of Housing figures.
Fears are now being expressed that many of these, including children, will be forced to spend Christmas in emergency accommodation.
Midwest Simon CEO Jackie Bonfield says it’d be naive to think all of these families will be permanently housed within the next number of weeks.
