Independent TD Thomas Pringle said many Donegal people are facing ‘dire situations’ due to the housing crisis.
He added drastic change and significant investment is needed and called the government’s Housing for All policy ‘a failure’.
Addressing the Dáil on Wednesday, Deputy Pringle said the state of housing in this country is an absolute disgrace.
“I have been contacted by many constituents in Donegal who are facing dire situations,” he said.
“People who are choosing between paying the rent or paying bills. People who are being evicted from their homes at short notice with nowhere to go and no alternative rental accommodation available in the county. People whose family homes are crumbling down because of defective blocks and who are stuck between living in a crumbling house or becoming homeless.”
He also said some young people will never be in a position to buy and some are forced to move to another country in order to secure their own home.
Deputy Pringle was speaking on the Sinn Féin Motion re Affordable Housing.
“In January, homelessness in Donegal had risen by 10 per cent. 13,866 people were registered as homeless in Ireland in March, another new record for the government, 172 of which were in the northwest. This number does not include those sleeping on our streets, or couch-surfing.
“The Minister for Housing has, on many occasions, said that tackling the issue of homelessness is a government priority. Why then do the numbers only continue to rise? We watch as record level homelessness is reached each month, with the government breaking its own records time and time again. It is clear that Housing for All is not working.”