Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 11 June 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Impact of Homelessness on Children: Discussion

Mr. Mike Allen:

When we started, it was a hub and the families were all homeless and were counted in the statistics. However, the actual physical units have front doors and they are in a block which was formerly part of hotel accommodation where people would take a short stay. The Senator will know the type of accommodation to which I am referring. Originally, it was a hub and they were homeless. With the reclassification, they did not move and stayed exactly where they were and their conditions were the same in that they were told that while it was a reasonable place to live, they were not staying there and their job was to get out.

There is no security and it is temporary. It is different from a hub in that instead of having a couple of rooms and sharing a kitchen, people are in a physical unit within their own control.