Cllr Janet Horner calls for National Strategy on Homelessness

The Green Party has called for a new national strategy on homelessness. The call comes from Dublin City Councillor and candidate in the forthcoming Dublin Central Bye-Election, Janet Horner, in reaction to the news today from the Department of Housing that there were 11,946 adults and 5,571 children homeless last month .

Reacting to the figure announced today, Cllr Horner said:

“The amount of people that are homeless, including more than five and a half thousand children, is a shame on this Government. Those children deserve much better than that. People who enter into homelessness deserve to be treated with dignity and to be given a clear and meaningful pathway out of that situation. Where is the national strategy to tackle this issue once and for all?”

Cllr Horner also pointed to the fact that one tenth of the country’s accommodation for people in homelessness is on one street, Gardiner Street, in Dublin 1:

“The figures are going down in some parts of the country but are increasing in Dublin, in fact Gardiner Street in Dublin 1 is home to ten per cent of all people in homelessness. The Government is making this national issue a local issue, and that is deeply unfair on people who are in emergency accommodation and the communities in the area. Dublin 1 needs more support, and people who are homeless deserve better than being housed in one area of the city that is facing so many social issues.”