Commenting on figures released today, Social Democrats spokesperson on Housing, Cian O’Callaghan TD, said:
“The latest figures released by the Department of Housing show that the number of people becoming homeless and living in emergency accommodation remains high. During August, the numbers of adults living in emergency accommodation for homeless people increased marginally while the numbers of families and children decreased marginally.
“This follows a period where during the ban on evictions the numbers of people becoming homeless dropped significantly.
“Research by a team of epidemiologists at Harvard, the University of Illinois and the University of Pennsylvania has shown a very significant link between the rate of evictions and the spread of Covid-19.
“I’m calling on the Minister for Housing to immediately bring forward legislation that would permanently eliminate most grounds for eviction to bring us into line with most other European countries.
“Organisations working with homeless people have reported a significant rise of people sleeping rough who are faced with increasing obstacles when accessing emergency accommodation. We need a rough sleeper count done as soon as possible.”
ENDS
September 25, 2020