Sr Stan Field Hospitals
I am proud to say that Focus Ireland helped over 500 families to secure a home last year and to escape the nightmare of being homeless. I now sometimes feel there are no words left to describe the deepening homelessness and humanitarian crisis. Since I founded Focus Ireland in 1985 I never dreamt I would witness the situation being as out of control as it is now.
As I write this, there are now a record total of over 10,300 people homeless. It is really heart-breaking that nearly 4,000 of these are children.
The Government’s response on the issue of homelessness has been that it takes time to end this crisis. These children don’t have time. They are been robbed of their childhoods and damaged by every day spent homeless.
There are also many more individuals and families homeless. They often feel hopeless but we must not. It is our job to give them hope. It is our job to support them while they are homeless and to help them to find a way home.
Partnership
I am proud to say that Focus Ireland – in partnership with the State and our supporters – helped over 500 families to secure a home in 2018. As a country, we have a duty to look after all our citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable.
We must cherish all of our children equally and ensure that no child suffers from being homeless for long periods of time.
We must work towards ensuring that every child has a place to call home. Recently our staff and volunteers put together hundreds of school packs to help the rising number of schoolchildren who are homeless as they returned to school after the holidays
We are always working hard to continue to develop realistic policy solutions to help end homelessness. We do this work through over 80 frontline services across the country and our commitment to building homes.
While the crisis is continuing, the situation would be even worse without the vital services and housing we provide.
Focus Ireland helped a record number of over 15,500 people last year who were homeless or at risk of homelessness.
We now provide 1,172 homes around the country that Focus Ireland owns or manages.
This amazing work is done in partnership with the State and through the support of our generous donors. It fills me with great pride that we are making a difference, as we really are challenging homelessness and changing lives.
While Focus Ireland works very well with the Government in delivering homes, we must also acknowledge that their overall Rebuilding Ireland strategy is not working. There are no clear plans in place to tackle family or youth homelessness.
The present policy is far too market-driven and the market never has and never will eliminate homelessness or provide homes for the people who can’t afford to buy.
I am very concerned about the Government’s continued focus on the delivery of family hubs rather than permanent homes”
There needs to be a radical change in policy, and the government and local authorities must take responsibility for the provision of local authority housing. We urgently need a more ambitious strategy to tackle this issue. This includes actively building more social housing, ensuring that bank restructuring does not come at the cost of mass homelessness, taxing those who hoard building land and protecting the rights of tenants facing eviction.
I am very concerned about the Government’s continued focus on the delivery of family hubs rather than permanent homes.
Hubs
The Government admits that hubs are only a ‘first response’ but there is still no sign of them delivering a long-term second plan to deal with the crisis we are facing.
We need a detailed sub strategy on family homelessness that would include a guarantee that no family would be homeless for more than six months.
This crisis must be ended.
We must continue to provide a voice for the many people and families who are voiceless.
Focus Ireland will not rest until they are heard and we must not rest until they find a home.