Deputy Pearse Doherty has today hit out at the Government over its failure to tackle the worsening problem of homelessness after recently published data.
The figures show there has been an 11% increase in the number of persons accessing homeless services here in Donegal for the period January to October.
Deputy Doherty was commenting after figures compiled as part of the Department of Housing’s monthly homelessness report reveal that 205 adults were forced to access local authority homeless accommodation between January and October of this year – up by almost 11 per cent compared to the same period in 2016.
Reacting to the data, Deputy Doherty said “What this information from the Department’s own monthly homelessness report highlights is that the housing and homelessness crisis is not simply isolated to urban centres, but is also being experienced here in our own county.
“In fact, last month during the week of 23rd to 29th October, there were 27 individuals in State-funded emergency accommodation here in Donegal, overseen by the local authority, and which include hotels, B&Bs, hostels and other residential facilities that are used on an emergency basis.”
This is the highest number of individuals recorded in a single month this year alone, which he added is something which further proves that the homelessness crisis is escalating here.
“Even more concerning, is the fact that during this same week last month, 3 separate families with children were forced into emergency accommodation in the North-West region.
“Similarly, if we look at the figures for 2016 and compare them to the first ten months of this year just gone, then we see that the numbers of people entering emergency accommodation has risen by 11% in just a year – that’s a massive increase.
“Clearly, this shocking data proves that this Fine Gael Government is simply not doing enough to seriously tackle the present housing and homelessness crisis which continues to ravage this state.
“One only has to look at the headlines over recent days to discover that tragically this week alone, two homeless people have died on the streets of the capital.
“While sadly this data will not come as a surprise to any of us given the on-going inaction of Government in this area, it’s important to remember that behind each of these statistics is a vulnerable person or indeed an entire family who, through little fault of their own, have been let down by Government .”
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