Fr. Peter McVerry:

We deal with a very specific subgroup of the homeless with addiction and mental health problems, primarily. However, we have to remember that 95% of those who are becoming homeless today have only one problem - they do not have the money to pay their rent or the banks have taken their property from them. They do not have any mental health problems. However, if people are homeless for any substantial period of time, they are going to become depressed. Depression is a common feature among homeless people and the families who are living in hotels. Their self esteem hits rock bottom. Parents have told me that they feel they have failed their children and are bad parents. The public perception is that if people are homeless, there must be something wrong with them.

People who become homeless for valid reasons feel that perception. I have heard the story of a family that was living in an hotel bedroom. The members of that family were not allowed to mix with the other residents. They were not allowed to eat in the restaurant. They had to come in the back door because they were not allowed in the front door. They were not allowed to sit in the garden on a lovely sunny day even though all the paying residents were in the garden. When the mother decided to bring the kids for a walk, they had to walk through the garden. As they were doing so, the seven year old boy, seeing a bowl of water, asked "Mammy, why is the dog allowed in the garden and we are not?". That is an example of how people's self-esteem can hit rock bottom. Depression is a very common thing for many homeless people.

I would like to mention that the emergency homeless services are a total disaster. If one wants to get a bed for the night through such services, one must make a telephone call to a freefone number at 2 p.m. If one calls at 2.02 p.m., one will be told that one is 52nd on the waiting list to speak to somebody. One could be on the telephone for an hour and a half before one gets to speak to somebody. In such circumstances, one is very likely to be told that there are no beds and advised to telephone back at 4.30 p.m. to go through the whole thing again. I ask members to imagine someone with a mental health problem having to do that. People who get emergency accommodation in these circumstances are likely to be put into a hostel full of drug users. The biggest complaint I get from homeless people relates to waking up in the morning after sharing a room with three or people, only to find that the other people have gone and so have that person's money, runners, mobile telephone and everything else of value.

There is a huge emphasis on having the right number of beds for homeless people to get them off the streets, but there is no discussion about the quality of those beds. The vast majority of emergency beds are of such appalling quality that people feel safer sleeping on the streets. There are three groups of people who will not go into dormitory-type accommodation. People who are drug-free, or have come out of drug treatment, are not willing to share a room with active drug users. Young vulnerable people, many of whom have just come out of care, are terrified of going into these dormitories. Homeless people who were abused as children tell me they break out in a sweat at the thought of sleeping in a dormitory full of strangers. The quality of the emergency accommodation is appalling.

I would like to say quickly that although the rent resettlement scheme has a part to play, it will not deal with more than a tiny minority of families. Very few people in these circumstances want to move out of Dublin because it involves leaving all of their support structures behind. It has been in operation and has been quite successful in many cases. I think it could well be reconstituted.

I am not convinced by the argument that an increase in rent supplement will simply cause rents to increase. The alternative to giving support to somebody on rent supplement is to give it to somebody who is working. Market forces come in here. There is a limit to what someone who is working can afford to pay and a limit to what someone who is working is willing to pay. It has been argued that an increase in rent supplement will automatically lead to an increase in rents. The answer to that is to introduce rent control. The introduction of legislation to allow rents to increase in line with the consumer price index would be a fair solution for landlords and tenants. In such circumstances, an increase in rent supplement would simply allow people who are on rent supplement to compete with others who are working.

The vast majority of people who have separated have no problems. Some people who have separated from their partners are now homeless. We came across a 50 year old sitting on a park bench. He had reared his children and had his own home. He had worked all his life, but lost his job in the recession and subsequently split up from his partner. He was sitting on a park bench at 10.30 p.m. wondering what to do. When he called the freefone number, he was told that there were no beds left and he was invited to come down and get a sleeping bag. He did not have any addiction, alcohol or other problems. It was just that he did not get on with his wife at that stage in his life. In that case, a good samaritan brought him into town and paid for him to stay in a bed and breakfast for the night.

I will conclude by speaking about Traveller accommodation, funding for which was reduced by 85% during the recession. Much of the money that was provided was not even used by the local authorities. Funding for Traveller education was reduced by 90% during the recession. I find those two figures appalling.