Madam, - I am writing in response to recent comments by the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Noel Ahern TD, following the publication of Focus Ireland's annual report for 2002.
Mr Ahern said Focus had misled people by suggesting "5,000 people were sleeping rough" and he added this was untrue as "temporary accommodation is in place for those who require it".
Firstly, Focus Ireland clearly stated in our press release that the 5,581 people who are homeless are living both on the streets and in emergency accommodation. However, the Minister's response seems to suggest all is fine if people are living in emergency accommodation. Our own detailed research into this matter in recent years has shown the terrible impact on people who are forced to live in hostels and B&Bs for long periods.
A Focus report in 2000 revealed a dramatic rise in the use of B&Bs in Dublin from just five cases in 1990 to a total of 1,202 households (of which 57 per cent were families) in 1999. The research also found the damaging impact of living in this type of accommodation as families are cooped up in one or two rooms with no cooking facilities and nowhere for children to play. It can also lead to vulnerable people losing out on family and community support as the B&Bs are often not even in their own local areas.
A recent report (on behalf of the Homeless Agency) also revealed that the length of time people are forced to live in B&Bs has shot up from only 20 days in 1993 to a current average of 18 months. The previous Government document, "Homelessness - An Integrated Strategy", recommended that an action plan for Dublin should eliminate the use of B&Bs for families other than for emergencies and then for no longer than a month.
I was also disappointed to hear Mr Ahern maintain there are only about 100 people sleeping rough in Dublin. The recent "Counted In" report carried out by the ESRI on behalf of the Homeless Agency found 312 people who reported that they were sleeping rough in Dublin. It is extremely worrying that the Minister responsible for housing homeless people doesn't seem to know - or be ready to admit - how many people are sleeping rough in the capital.
Focus Ireland is calling on the Government to take urgent action to meet its NAPS commitment to provide 41,500 local authority housing starts by 2006. Halfway through this timeframe it is already nearly 10,000 units behind the mid-term target of 20,750 units. We believe the local authority housing budget has to be doubled from €695 million to at least €1.4 billion per year to ensure the 30,600 units required to meet this commitment are built between 2003 and 2006.
I suggest the Government and Mr Ahern look more closely at how they might tackle these matters instead of suggesting Focus Ireland is misleading people when we are only living up to our responsibility to be an advocate for people who are homeless in Ireland and for the record number of 48,413 households on the local authority housing waiting lists which have no proper place to call home. - Yours etc.,
DECLAN JONES, Chief Executive, Focus Ireland, Eustace Street, Dublin 2.