Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The January homeless figures, published by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government yesterday, reveal an increase in the number of people in emergency accommodation. There is an all-time high of 7,167 citizens who are homeless and the number of households in emergency accommodation has increased by 84. In January, 4,760 adults were in emergency accommodation, which is an increase of 117 persons.

The number of families in emergency accommodation has dropped by 33 and the number of children has dropped by 98. However, a total of 2,407 children are still homeless. The Minister has claimed these figures show the success of his policy. On the contrary, they are evidence of a policy that does not have ambition and that is not working. How can a 91% increase in homelessness in two years be labelled a success? One child becomes homeless every five hours in Dublin. This is evidence of a crisis that is deepening.

Once again, the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, released the figures late. We need an aggressive purchase programme for vacant homes. It needs to include 1,000 new housing first tenancies this year. The Taoiseach is always claiming that the only way to tackle the housing crisis is to increase supply, in other words, to build houses. When does he expect that to happen?

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